


The Lost Child

by averyso



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25405993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averyso/pseuds/averyso
Summary: "Harry Potter is a name everyone knows for something he didn't even do himself, but yours, Aster, yours will be known for generations, they will know the lost Potter child, and they will remember you."_________________________________________Aster Lily Evans, twin sister to Harry Potter, did not know her story. Growing up with her godfather, Severus Snape, she would soon learn that nothing was what it seemed.Follow alongside her into her journey of finding herself, friendship, love and acceptance as she starts her life in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry....[Draco Malfoy x OC][Book 1 - 4]Note: This story has also been posted on Wattpad - by myself, so if you see it on Wattpad, don't worry :)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Prologue

It was a particularly cold night on the 31st of October 1981, when Rubeus Hagrid arrived at Godric’s Hollow, sent by order of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Something tragic has happened, and when Hagrid saw what was left of James and Lily Potter’s home, he almost broke into tears. He couldn’t hold them back, though, when he saw James dead in the living room, and later, Lily lying motionless in front of two cribs containing two small children, barely the size of Fang when he was still a pup, looking at him. One of them, the girl, glanced curiously at him, while the other, the boy, was crying silently. He had a great slash across his forehead and seemed to be in pain. 

Hagrid carefully picked the two from their cribs and wrapped them in two blankets that would fit them twice, it was that large. On his way out he stopped at Lily and James once more and said his silent goodbye, knowing, that these two children in his arms, would forever be without parents. 

As soon as he stepped onto the barely lit street, he heard a loud roaring from above and saw a huge motorcycle flying towards him, and on top of it – Sirius Black, one of James Potter’s best friends. As soon as he landed, he looked at Hagrid urgently. “Give Harry to me, Hagrid, I’m his godfather, I’ll look after him-“, he said, but Hagrid refused. He had strict orders by Professor Dumbledore, and he would not break the old wizard’s trust. After arguing, Sirius eventually gave in and told Hagrid to take his motorcycle, as he would not need it anymore.

Many thoughts raced through his mind, as Hagrid flew over Britain to a little town called Surrey, where Dumbledore asked him to go. The boy, Harry, fell asleep over Bristol, however the girl, Aster, stayed awake the whole ride. She seemed sad, but she did not cry, but, mindlessly, played with Hagrid’s long, bushy beard until they arrived, where Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall already waited for him. 

The boy, Hagrid was told, would be living with his aunt, uncle, and cousin at this very house they were standing in front of. However, the girl would go somewhere else, as promised to the late Lily Potter. Just a short few days before her eventual demise, she wrote to Dumbledore, asking him, that if anything would happen to her, Aster would be brought to her godfather. Dumbledore, though reluctantly, agreed, and so Hagrid started the motorcycle again, and flew to the destination of one Severus Snape, under the condition that Aster would be given her mother’s maiden name, to ease her way into the wizarding world, without a famous surname.

Everyone knows the story of Harry Potter, the boy who lived. But this is the story of Aster Evans, the lost child.


	2. Smoke Clears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like in the books, Snape has started teaching in 1981, but for the sake of this story, he took Aster in on Halloween night and cared for her for the rest of the term before returning to Hogwarts! :)
> 
> Song of the chapter: Smoke Clears by Andy Grammer
> 
> ̴

| ̴

_“There are memories that time does not erase... Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.”_

_― **Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire**_

Aster Lily Evans’ childhood was not a happy one, nor was it a sad one either. She grew up with her godfather, Severus Snape, but that wasn’t where she spent most of her year. As Snape began teaching Potions at Hogwarts a year after she was brought to him by the half-giant Hagrid, with a note by Dumbledore, she spent her time with somewhat close friends of Snape, the Malfoys. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy weren’t the kindest of people, but they never treated her badly. They also had a son her age, Draco, whom she spent most of her days with.

Aster and Draco had similar characteristics, both being stubborn, and somewhat arrogant, so, while they respected each other, they never formed a friendship and were usually seen bickering with each other or competing in several occasions. As most of the families of the sacred twenty-eight were friends, they, as well as their children, spent a lot of time together, either working, gossiping, or playing with each other. And while Draco quickly became friends with Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, Aster grew to like Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. She also talked to Daphne Greengrass and her sister Astoria quite often, though they seemed too naïve for her liking. Then there were Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bullstrode, who she detested, mainly for their arrogant and snobby behaviour, not unlike Asters, though, while she was more subtle, Pansy and Millicent were anything but.

She spent her summers with Snape, when he returned from Hogwarts, but they did not have a great relationship either. Whenever he saw her, his eyes became distant and somewhat sad, so he tried to avoid her most of his times, doing work for the Order or brewing and improving potions that he would need for the following school year. However, he could not deny the brilliance of this young girl, that looked so much like his lost love, so as soon as he deemed her old enough, he started teaching her in simple spells and potion making. That seemed to help their relationship; the more time Aster and Severus spent together, the stronger their bond grew. On the day of her eleventh birthday, their relationship almost resembled that of an Uncle and his Niece.

It was not too late when Aster awoke the morning of her birthday. She had looked forward to this day since she could think, because finally, she would get her Hogwarts Acceptance letter and would join her godfather to this magical place he and the Malfoys told her about.

She went downstairs to make herself some breakfast when the hooting of an owl distracted her. It was not her usual owl, Poppy, but an unfamiliar owl bearing a heavy letter. She gave the owl something to eat while she opened the letter which bore the Hogwarts crest upon. Aster could not contain her big smile as she read the first lines.

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Ms. Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

The second page enclosed a list of all things she would need for her first year, including several books, robes, and other necessities for her classes such as a cauldron and dragon hide gloves. And, at last, a wand. Her wand.

Forgetting her food, Aster ran down the stairs into the cellar where Severus had his “office” with all his potion supplies. Without knocking she stormed into the small, dark room where her godfather stood, making yet another potion.

“What did I say about coming into my office, Aster?”, he drawled without turning to her. Said girl blushed and ducked her head in embarrassment, and her eyes fell onto the letter. Sheepishly apologising to Severus, she stated: “I got my letter, Severus, I got it!” and the grin was back onto her face. Finally, he turned around and stared at her tiny frame from over his nose. “And what is so exciting about that? You knew it would be coming today.”, he said without much emotion, which seemed to damper Asters mood slightly.

Disappointed, she turned around and started to leave. “Congratulations,” she heard, “you deserve it very much, Aster. I cannot go to Diagon Alley with you though, as I must complete several potions by the end of the summer, and Albus has asked me to help him with a task. I am sure you can go with Narcissa and Draco, will you send them a letter, while I answer to Professor McGonagall?”

Aster smiled slightly and turned around. “Of course, Professor.”, she said and winked cheekily at her godfather, who would soon be her teacher. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his potion, thus dismissing her from the room. Even though she was still a child, Aster knew when she wasn’t welcome in a room and went to leave. As soon as the door to his room was closed, she leaped into a sprint up the stairs to write a letter to the Malfoys, asking them if she could join them on their journey to Diagon Alley.

~

Several days later Aster was ready to go to Diagon Alley, but first she had to travel to Malfoy Manor. Severus hasn’t been home when she woke that morning, so she made herself breakfast and got ready on her own. But she was too excited to feel lonely in that empty house – she would finally get her wand, and that thought alone kept her awake the previous night.

Travelling with floo powder was not something Aster particularly enjoyed, but as it was the only way she could travel to Malfoy Manor on her own, she shoved her feelings to the side and stepped into the fire place. She wasn’t exactly fond of floo powder, as the first time she travelled with it, she got ash all over her face and into her mouth. It got better over the years, but she was still dusty when she arrived at her destination.

After saying hello to the Malfoy family, she grabbed Narcissa’s arm to apparate alongside her, while Draco took Lucius’ arm. If there was anything Aster despised more than floo powder, it was side-along apparition. She always felt nauseous but could conceal it now so well that one would think she does that everyday.

It wasn’t the first time at Diagon Alley for Aster, but certainly the most exciting one. “Why don’t you two go to Madam Malkin’s for your robes? Lucius will buy the books and I will have a look at possible wands. Severus has given us enough money for your school supplies, so we do not need to go to Gringotts beforehand. Well then, off you two go!”, Narcissa said. Draco and Aster nodded and headed to the robe’s shop.

While Aster had inherited more than enough money from her parents, Severus refused to use that money for some reason. He claimed that it was hers when she would be of age, and he earned more than enough to care for them both. Every time she had asked, he got very defensive, so after a couple of times she gave up and just went with it. Sometimes it was best to let Severus live out his moods rather than opposing them.

“Hogwarts, my dears?”, asked a squat, smiling witch the two and they nodded.

The lady, Madam Malkin, led them into a back room and positioned them on a footstool, before taking their measurements.

It was not long when another boy came to them. He was rather skinny, with unkempt black hair, and round glasses on his nose. Something about him sparked curiosity in Aster, as if she had seen him somewhere before. She did not dare showing it in front of Draco, of course, but she couldn’t help but wonder how he seemed so familiar.

“Hello”, said Draco, “Hogwarts, too?”

“Yes”, said the familiar boy.

“My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow.”, Draco continued, and Aster couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the arrogant boy.

“Have you got your own broom?”, Draco went on and the boy shook his head. “Play Quidditch at all?” – the boy again, said no. He seemed to be confused and Aster wondered if he was muggle born, but Draco, being as ignorant as he always was, didn’t seem to notice.

"I do – Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

“Nobody knows what house they’re going to be in, Draco, you know that.”, Aster interjected before the boy could even think of saying no. She was getting annoyed at Draco’s behaviour and wanted to put an end to his questioning.

“I know that Aster, but I also know that I’ll be in Slytherin – all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?", Aster rolled her eyes again, but Draco seemed to be too distracted by a large man standing outside the window with two ice creams.

“I say, look at that man!”, he exclaimed, looking at him.

“That’s Hagrid,” the boy said, “he works at Hogwarts.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of him, he’s sort of a servant, isn’t he?”, Draco asked.

“He’s the gamekeeper”, the boy told them.

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage – lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

“I think he’s brilliant.”

“Do you?”, said Draco with a slight sneer, “Why is he with you? Where are your parents?”

“They’re dead.”, the boy said, and Aster’s eyes widened with surprise. She discreetly looked at Draco and met his eyes; there was a silent question if she was okay in his grey eyes, and she nodded shortly. Her parents were a touchy subject; she didn’t know much about them, as neither Severus, nor the Malfoy parents told her much about them, only that they were both wizards.

"Oh, sorry," said Draco, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?", but before that boy could answer, Madam Malkin exclaimed that his robes were finished and he could go. He seemed rather relieved and hopped off the stool. Without looking back, he paid for his robes and went outside to the gamekeeper and out of their eyesight.

Aster sighed. “Did you _have_ to be so annoying, Draco?”, she asked him but only got an eyeroll as an answer, so she stuck her tongue out to him.

At last they were finished as well and went outside with Draco’s parents. They had gotten everything else they needed, as it took some time for Draco and Aster to get fitted. Draco did not get a new broom to take with him to school, so he was in quite a bad mood the rest of the day, but Aster didn’t care at all. She was thinking about the strangely familiar boy from earlier. She was so curious, so she decided she would ask Severus later if he knew him or his parents.

All her worries were forgotten, as they neared Ollivanders’ Wand Shop. She had heard so much about this shop and couldn’t wait to get her wand.

Draco and his parents went in first, and Mr. Ollivander greeted them politely, but when she entered, his eyes became wide.

“It cannot be. Impossible! I thought there was only one – how peculiar.”, he whispered as he stared at Aster. Furrowing her brows, she stared at him intently. “What do you mean?”, she asked. “I remember your father and mother very clearly, yes. Seems like only yesterday, when she bought her first wand - ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow, perfect for charms, you see. His, however, was a mahogany wand, eleven inches. Pliable – perfect for Transfiguration. Of course, their wands didn’t help them in the end, when He and His wand were so much stronger…”, he trailed off, deep in thoughts.

Asters hands started shaking, her heart pounding and she couldn’t contain herself, so she asked shakily who they were. “Oh, I mustn’t tell, not my place to tell, not at all..”, he rambled, staring into distance.

“Well that is all quite lovely, but could we get our wands, perhaps? The reason we came here?”, Narcissa’s voice seemed too loud for the otherwise silent room. She and her husband exchanged nervous looks – they would have to talk to Severus about this, it seemed Aster would have to know, especially now that she was starting Hogwarts, where a lot more people used to know her parents. And of course, where her brother would be attending too.

“Ah, of course, of course!”, said Mr. Ollivander immediately, and ordered Draco and Aster to tell him their wand hands while a tape measured everything from their height to the distance between their nostrils.

“Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand.”, he told them while measuring.

“We will start with you, young Mr. Malfoy, try this one.”, he said and beckoned Draco over to the counter where several wands were on display. It didn’t take long for him to find the right one, though.

“Ten inches, Hawthorne wood with a Unicorn hair core.”, Ollivander said as Draco picked it up. Immediately he knew, this was the one. So did Ollivander as he clapped his hands together with a delighted face.

“Perfect, perfect!”, he almost shouted, “Although a very peculiar combination if I dare say. You see, Hawthorne wood is a very special one, indeed. My colleague, Mr. Gregorovitch, another wand maker in the east, once said ‘this wood makes a strange, contradictory wand, as full of paradoxes as the tree that gave it birth, whose leaves and blossoms heal, and yet whose cut branches smell of death’, I however do not completely agree with him; I think Hawthorne wood is well suited for healing magic, but also adept to curses. It’s not easy to master, but if it chooses a powerful wizard, it can be quite dangerous, indeed. The Unicorn core, in contrary, though producing the most consistent magic of all the cores, is the least powerful. It is quite curious how a powerful wood and a core such like a Unicorn’s will play together. It is most certainly the most faithful of all wands, it is.”, Ollivander continued and Draco seemed almost pleased, as did his parents.

“Now to you, young witch.”, Ollivander said and gave her several options to try out. Her process was quite a long one, and she was getting restless, as well as Draco. “Can we go now, please?”, he whined at his mother, while Aster shot a dark look at him. “It’s not my fault none of those wands fit.”, she clapped back at him.

“Hold on just a little bit longer, Draco. Surely, Mr. Ollivander knows what he’s doing and will give Aster the right wand immediately, or am I wrong?”, said Lucius and glowered down to Mr. Ollivander who seemed nervous under his stare. “Of course, certainly, Mr. Malfoy, at once.”, he stuttered and went into the back to get more wands, as all the previous wands did nothing but destruction to his shop.

Aster exhaled loudly as she, too, was getting annoyed by the old man’s restlessness. This time, however, he returned with only one wand.

“This might be fit for you, young lady. Ebony Wood, Dragon Heartstring, 12 ½ inches, with rigid flexibility.”, he said when she picked it up. She knew at once that this wand belonged to her. A warm sensation flowed through her and it seemed to speak to her, caressing her even. “Delightful.”, Mr. Ollivander whispered.

“Ebony wood is highly suited for combative magic, as well as Transfiguration, just like your father’s. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. In my experience the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose.

“As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. . It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.”

“Yeah, that fits.”, Draco scoffed quietly, but not quiet enough, as he yelped immediately after Lucius smacked him with his walking stick, Narcissa scolding him and Aster shooting him another dark glare.

Aster and the Malfoys all thanked Mr. Ollivander and exited the shop after paying the requested money.

After getting some ice cream at Florean Fortescues, they all apparated back to Malfoy Manor. As Severus would not be home until the late evening, Aster would be spending the night at the Manor. Forgetting their bickering, Draco and Aster did what they loved the most in their free time, which was flying on their own broomsticks and playing Quidditch until darkness rose and they were beckoned inside by Narcissa.

Aster excused herself to her room after Dinner, eager to start reading her school books. She was quite talented at Potions, if she would trust Severus’ words, but she knew next to nothing about the other subjects that she would be taking at Hogwarts, except for Defence Against the Dark Arts, as Severus was fond of the subject and started teaching her on it, even though she wasn’t allowed to use spells yet.

She fell asleep shortly after settling down, happy from the day’s events, but also incredibly curious about that strangely familiar boy and Mr. Ollivander’s words.

~

She had a strange dream that night. She couldn’t see much, as it appeared to be dark outside, but she heard screaming and shouting, and someone close to her crying. Almost immediately she wanted to protect the crying person, but she seemed limited in her actions, though she didn’t give up trying, furrowing her brows tightly in concentration.

But no matter what she did, she couldn’t move.

“Please, take me, not my children, take me!”, she heard a woman crying, but her begging was no use. Aster saw a bright green light, and the crying of the woman stopped.

A dark shadow appeared in front of her, but the person who murdered her mother was not standing in front of her. They were standing in front of the other person crying, the baby, Aster presumed. Again, she saw a bright green light and prepared for the immediate death of the child – but the crying didn’t stop.

The shadow vanished.

~

Needless to say, Aster didn’t sleep much after the dream, and was especially grumpy the morning after.

She bid her goodbyes to the Malfoy family shortly after breakfast, and travelled back to her own home, again, via floo powder.

Severus was already waiting for her with all her stuff, as Narcissa sent them back before Aster arrived. He of course noticed her glum mood, but chose not to mention it, already used to her mood swings from the years before.

Too tired to do anything, Aster settled in front of the large fireplace in the living room and continued reading the book she started the previous night.

The weeks before her first term of school went by quickly, but Aster wasn’t able to enjoy them. She slept even less, still plagued by her nightmares. So much that Severus gave her a sleeping draught to take before she went to bed, though she never took it, as she was too engrossed in her dreams to want to miss them. She was set to figuring out what was happening in it, and to do so, she had to experience it more than once, but it was to no avail, as she could not see more than she did the first time she had the dream.

The Malfoys held their own promise and talked to Severus about the day in Diagon Alley and Mr. Ollivander’s words, and they tried convincing him to talk to his Goddaughter, but he was too stubborn to listen, still engrossed in his hatred for his late love’s husband.

That was, until Aster herself asked Severus one night, after weeks of contemplation. It was a warm late August night, and she and Severus were down in his office, brewing a Potion he would need for his sixth-year students the week after.

They worked in silence while Aster try to gather all the courage she possessed and after a couple of hours, she had enough of her cowardice and started to talk.

“Uncle Severus?”, she asked carefully, to which he hummed in response. “That day, in Diagon Alley, I saw a strange boy. He seemed familiar but I am certain I’ve never seen him. He also didn’t seem to have any knowledge of the Wizarding World too…” – “What are you on about? Get to the point.”, Severus interrupted her rambling, fed up with her beating about the bush.

“Well,” she said embarrassed, “maybe you know him, or at least his parents. He said they were both magical, but they weren’t alive anymore. He was quite skinny, with dark hair and green eyes; he also had round glasses…”, she trailed off as Severus whipped around to her. His eyes seemed to have gotten a shade darker than usually. “Do you know the name of the boy?”, he drawled, and she shook her head nervously. “No, I didn’t get it.” – “Well then, why are you bothering me with this?”

She blushed furiously and tried to defend herself. “He just seemed so familiar. As though I know him, but I don’t and … I don’t know. Mr. Ollivander also said he remembered my parents. Who were they, Uncle? I want to know – I _need_ to know!”, she asked desperately, with tears in her eyes. “And those nightmares, I want to understand them. It’s not normal to have the same dream every night, is it? It must be a memory, but I don’t understand it. I don’t know what happened. Please, Uncle, tell me about my past.”, she continued, tears spilling out of her eyes. She furiously wiped them away.

“Oh, I knew them, I did, well enough.”, he seethed at her before exhaling loudly and swiping a hand over his face in an exhausted manner.

“Sit down.”, he said, so shit took the nearest stool to sit down, while he did the same with another one.

“When I was a boy, there was this girl, she was somewhat of a neighbour, even though she lived in another town with her family. Until our eleventh birthday, we all thought she was just a regular Muggle, like her family, but it was evident, that she was a witch, when her Hogwarts letter came. We were good friends by them, so we were both happy that we would get to spend more time together, now even in school.

“That changed, though, as I was sorted into Slytherin, and she was sorted into Gryffindor. We tried to stay friends, but with her and my separate circles of friends it was hard. We managed for a couple of years, but the boys she was friends with, they didn’t like her being friends with me. They pranked me and were generally not good people. On one day, one of the boys, he almost killed me, but another stopped me before I could be hurt.

“I hated the boys, and I seemed to project the hatred onto Lily, the girl, whom I loved so dearly, but I made a mistake. I called her a Mudblood, and neither she, nor the boys took it very well. I hated myself for what I did, I still do to this day.

“Lily eventually fell in love with one of the boys, James, and they married as soon as they were out of school. When she was 19 years old, she had two children – twins. One of them was you, the other was Harry Potter.”

Aster didn’t dare to speak a word. She couldn’t even process everything her Godfather had said. Of course she knew what happened to the Potters, every wizarding kid knew, how He Who Must Not Be Named came into their home on Halloween Night in 1981 and killed both Lily and James Potter, but couldn’t kill their son – Harry, who was now famously known as The Boy Who Lived. Nobody, however, said anything about a girl, about her.

She couldn’t believe it. Severus had to be wrong, she couldn’t be a Potter. There was no way. “But … but how? Why? I – I don’t understand?”, she stuttered while looking at her hands.

“Your name is Aster Lily Evans, Aster being a flower, meaning love and wisdom, and Lily Evans being your mother’s maiden name. You were born on July 31st, 1980, just a couple of minutes after Harry. I didn’t know about you – or Harry, for that matter, until Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore arrived at my home on October 31st a year later with you. It appeared that Lily had forgiven me, or at least partly, and named me your Godfather. She wrote a letter to Dumbledore before her demise, asking him to give you to me if anything should happen to her and James. So, to honour her, I took you in.

“The boy you saw in Diagon Alley, from your description, I would say this was indeed your twin brother, therefore the reason you felt such a connection to him. Nobody but James and Lily’s closest friends knew you existed, and they still don’t. That is also the reason you are named after your mother and not your father. Dumbledore wanted you to grow up away from the fame that will await your brother everywhere he goes in the wizarding world. Dumbledore wanted you to have a somewhat normal childhood, away from the prying public.

“Harry Potter is a name everyone knows for something he didn’t even do himself, but yours, Aster, yours will be known for generations, they will know the Lost Potter Child, and they will remember you.”


	3. Boy Meets Evil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> Thank you so much for those couple people who have clicked on my poor attempt of a story and to that one person who left a kudos and subscribed (no idea if you're the same person or not tho lol)
> 
> I'm pretty new to ao3, so if I make any mistakes in that regard, sorry lol
> 
> Plus, I forgot to say that, but english isn't my first language, so if I made mistakes while writing, I'm terribly sorry - and if you're an english native and would like to proof read my chapters, hit me up!
> 
> Again, thank you guys so much for reading this story!
> 
> Song for the chapter is Boy Meets Evil by BTS
> 
> Cheers xo

_“Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.”_

**– Ralph Blum**

̴

It was September 1st and for once in her life, Aster wasn’t very excited to go to Hogwarts. The conversation between her and Severus was still fresh in her mind and she had a lot to think about the past week. She rarely left the room and used her time reading the school books she had left.

She couldn’t avoid Severus anymore, so when it turned 10:30 am, she and her godfather would apparate to King’s Cross Station in London where the train would leave. The relationship between her and Severus had been strained, so their goodbye was short, partly because she would see him again in a couple of hours anyways.

After going through the wall between the platforms 9 and 10, she met with her usual gang of friends which consisted of Theodore, Crabbe, Goyle, Draco, Daphne and, to her dismay, Pansy and Millicent. Settling down in a compartment, she couldn’t help but overhear how Draco told everyone that the famous Harry Potter – her brother – was on the train as well. Draco was the only person aside from the adults that knew of Harry Potters connection to Aster. When he found out, having been told by his parents with the request to keep an eye on her and her brother, he was delighted, as his father told him a friendship to the famous boy would bring glory upon the name Malfoy once more. His delight was dampened, though, when Aster asked him not to tell anyone about her and Harrys relation, as she hadn’t figured out how to tell the boy. She wanted to be the one to tell him they were siblings, and although complaining, Draco agreed to her request.

After the lady with the trolley came to bring lunch, Aster excused herself from her friends in hope to find her brother and talk to him. Although she didn’t know what she would say, she still wanted to get to know him, and for that, she needed to talk to him. She finally found his compartment at the end of the train after, obviously, going to the other end first.

Aster knocked softly on the compartment door and slid it open. It revealed two boys, one was obviously Harry Potter, the other, a redhead, she didn’t know, although from overhearing conversations between Draco and his father, she gathered it was one of the Weasley boys. Lucius wasn’t very fond of their father, but she had no ill feelings towards him. “Can I come in?”, she asked softly, and the two boys nodded.

She entered their compartment nervously and slid the door shut. Unsure what to do, she eyed both boys and her eyes immediately fell over Harrys prominent scar. “We’ve met before.”, said Harry and she nodded. “Yes, I’m Aster Evans. You’re Harry Potter, aren’t you?”

Slightly blushing, Harry nodded and cast his eyes downwards, while the other boy snickered slightly. Thinking he snickered because of her, Aster narrowed her eyes and looked at him with much disdain, he stopped laughing immediately. “And who are you?”, she asked. Now it was the other boy’s turn to blush – it went even up to his ears – and he answered, “Ron Weasley.”

A smirk graced her lips, but she refrained from commenting on his name. “Can I sit down?”, she asked, and the two boys nodded. After swiping some loose candy wrappers away, she sat down next to Ron.

For a while nobody said anything, and it was getting quite awkward in the compartment, the only occasional noise being the shifting of one of the three or someone clearing their throat. “I came to apologise,” said Aster, “for Draco’s behaviour in Madam Malkins. He shouldn’t have spoken so ill of the gameskeeper. He is quite prejudiced, but that is no excuse for his behaviour.” Aster continued.

“Shouldn’t he have come himself, then?”, Harry asked with an irritated voice to which Aster only shrugged so the compartment went silent again.

The awkwardness didn’t last long, though, as there was a knock on the door and a boy with a slightly round face stuck his head inside the compartment. He looked pathetically tearful, Aster thought to herself but kept quiet. “Sorry – but have you seen my toad at all?”, he asked but they all shook their heads. He started wailing: “I’ve lost him! He keeps getting away from me!”

“He’ll turn up,” said Harry.

“Yes. Well if you see him…”, he trailed off and left.

“Don't know why he's so bothered,” said Ron. “If I’d brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk.” he pointed to a miserable looking rat.

“He could’ve died for what I know. I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but it didn’t work. Hold on, I’ll show you…”, he said and turned to his bag to search for, Aster presumed, his wand. She was right when he took out a pathetic looking stick with some hair sticking out of it – it looked like unicorn hair, so Aster thought the wand must’ve been very old or badly used. Or maybe both. She scoffed inwardly. She’d heard all about the Weasley family from Lucius. Draco was always way too eager to hear more gossip about them. Aster guessed the information made him feel superior, as the Weasleys were, alongside the Malfoys and several others, one of the sacred 28 pureblood families. According to Lucius, a family like the Weasleys shouldn’t have that many children (they had now, what, 7 children?, Aster asked herself) when they were that poor.

Other than Draco, on the other side, she could see past something that wasn’t even Ron’s fault in the beginning, even though she secretly agreed with Lucius. Nonetheless, Aster was curious to what Ron would do with such a damaged wand and had her eyes look curious to the ginger boy.

Noticing her stare, he blushed again and cleared his throat. But before he could start, the compartment door was opened again and the round-faced boy stood there (again), this time with a girl with bushy hair and slightly large front teeth. She was already in her Hogwarts robes and asked them in a bossy tone, “Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one.” In an instant, Aster knew they wouldn’t be friends. She had a slight aura to her that resembled Pansy’s or Millicent’s.

“We’ve already told him we haven’t seen it,” said Ron but the girl was looking at his wand with a slight arrogant glint in her eyes. “Oh, are you doing magic? Let’s see it, then.”

Blushing even more than when Aster stared at him, Ron cleared his throat again and pointed his wand at the rat.

“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.” He waved his wand for a bit, but nothing happened. Aster raised an eyebrow at him to which he shrugged.

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” said the girl. “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practice and it’s all worked for me. Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it’s the very best school of witchcraft there is, I’ve heard – I’ve learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?”, she said very fast.

“I’m Ron Weasley”, Ron muttered.

“Aster Evans.”, said Aster with a cool voice. She did not like the girl’s attitude at all. It was one thing to be knowledgeable and liking to study, as Aster did, but it was a complete other story to flaunt the knowledge into everyone’s faces like that Hermione girl did. Hermione stared at Aster for a moment with contemplation before turning her head to Harry.

“Harry Potter,” he said, and Hermione gasped. Aster had to use all her strength to not roll her eyes at that behaviour. As if Harry Potter had been any important in her life before she got her letter.

“Are you really?”, Hermione said, “I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.”

“Am I?”, Harry asked in a slightly dazed voice. “Goodness, didn’t you know, I’d have found out everything I could if it was me,” said Hermione. “Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad.... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville’s toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we’ll be there soon.” and with that she left as well.

This time, Aster couldn’t contain her eye roll anymore. “Merlin, you would think that with everything the girl’s read, she would know that you can’t decide what house you’re going to be put in.”, she scoffed, making Harry and Ron look at her. They had completely forgotten she was even there.

“Are you always this cold to others?”, Ron asked, chewing on yet another sweet. “Only to people I don’t like.”, Aster answered with a wicked grin which Ron and Harry returned, just a bit less serious than Aster’s was. They boys may have thought she was joking, be really, she wasn’t. When you grow up within the pure-blood circle, you quickly learn to put up a mental shield, otherwise they’ll use everything against you.

The boys started talking about the four Hogwarts houses – Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff – but Aster wasn’t listening. She zoned out as soon as Ron said that all Dark Wizards have been in Slytherin. Too tired to pick a fight with Ron over her godfather’s house, she slumped back and thought about how she would tell Harry their secret. It wasn’t like she could just say it out of nowhere.

But before she came to a conclusion, the compartment door opened yet again, but this time it was Draco and his buffoon’s standing next to him. Aster never particularly liked Crabbe and Goyle as they were quite stupid, but she didn’t dislike them neither.

“Is it true?”, he asked, and his eyes flickered to Aster for a moment, “They’re all saying down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment. So, it’s you, is it?” Harry nodded yes looking at Draco’s friends.

“Oh, this is Crabbe, this is Goyle,”, he said, “and my name’s Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.” Ron started coughing, but everyone in the compartment (maybe with the exception of Crabbe and Goyle) knew it was to hide a snigger. “Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father’s told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford.”, Draco continued. “You’ll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others. I can help you with that.”, Draco said and held out a hand to Harry.

“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks”, he answered coolly and didn’t take the hand. A lazy smile formed on Asters face and she knew it was time to go back to her original compartment.

“It was nice meeting you, Weasley, Potter. Maybe I’ll see you around.”, she drawled (a speciality she picked up from Severus) and winked at the boys before beckoning Draco with her outside to go back to where they came from.

“Good job, Draco.”, she snorted, walking by him. Draco only scoffed but didn’t say anything in return, which made Aster snigger.

̴

It was already dark outside when the train slowly stopped at Hogsmeade station. Shortly after walking back to their compartment, the girls kicked the boys out so they could change; when they all were together again in their black robes they settled down and watched the darkening sky and landscape. After what must’ve felt like ages, they finally arrived.

After the train came to a stop, the friends made their way through the door out into the cold Scottish night.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”, a very tall man Aster recognised as Hogwarts’ gamekeeper she saw in Diagon Alley, bellowed over the students.

He beckoned them to follow him, saying: “Ye’ all get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec”, and after one more turn they saw the magnificent castle over a glittering lake under the moonlight and the stars. There was a collective “Oooh” to hear, but Aster was too stunned to say anything. Nothing Severus ever said could prepare her for this monumental sight. She was awestruck. This would be her home for the next seven years and seeing the castle for the first time vaporised all her worries into thin air – even just for a short amount of time.

The gamekeeper pointed to a couple of boats on a lake that seemed almost black in the night sky. Aster narrowed her eyes and thought, this man couldn’t be serious. He wasn’t expecting them to go over the lake, wasn’t he? She’d read in _Hogwarts: A History_ that there were many dangerous creatures in the lake, including a giant squid. But the man was serious, as he told them no more than four people were allowed in one boat.

Shakily, Aster boarded one of the boats, and with her sat Theodore, Blaise and Daphne, who didn’t seem so concerned than she was. She could swim, of course, but it wasn’t in her mind to be eaten by a giant squid before she even sat foot into the castle. Theodore, noticing Aster’s odd behaviour, quietly asked if she was okay. “Yeah…”, the redhead mumbled but continued to stare worried onto the lake. “Don’t worry, love. If you fall into the lake, I’ll jump after you and save our own damsel in distress.”, he said and winked cheekily at her before taking and squeezing her hand in reassurance. Theodore might tease her for literally anything, but he had a good heart, usually taking Asters worries away by making her laugh, and this time was no exception. She chuckled quietly and gave him a squeeze in return.

Theodore and Aster continued to hold hands until they were safely on the shore again, and she finally felt solid ground beneath her feet again. Aster forced herself to smile in thanks to her best friend to which he just nodded in return.

They were in some sort of cave before being led through a dark tunnel to a large door, where this Neville boy finally found his toad.

The gamekeeper knocked three times on the castle door.

̴

A tall witch, with black hair tied into a knot and emerald robes with a pointed hat, opened the door. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor house. She then proceeded to tell everyone about the four houses, but Aster decided not to listen, as she had already heard those stories by her godfather.

After leaving the first years alone for a while, the new students saw some of the ghosts for the first time. Again, Aster was awestruck. Having grown up surrounded by magic, she had never seen such a magical place like Hogwarts. While she knew moving pictures, the portraits on the walls were astounding, and she was especially fascinated by the silvery, slightly transparent ghosts that flew over them, talking to each other. What a fascinating place this was, she thought to herself before focusing back to Professor McGonagall, who had just returned.

She led the students through a huge hall, which had five long tables, four for each house, and one for the teachers on the front. She saw a lot of faces, some of which she recognised from the pure blood parties she was always dragged to by the Malfoys. Of course, she also saw Severus. She didn’t dare waving to him in front of the school, so she settled on just watching him, but realised fairly quickly that his eyes were not pointed at her, but her brother. Aster sighed quietly at her godfather’s behaviour. He had told her everything about his hatred of James Potter and his gang of friends over the summer, and while she thought Severus’ hatred against James was justified, it didn’t make each and every part of his behaviour alright. Aster knew that her godfather was a difficult person to deal with, and she’d had many mishaps during the years of living with him, but she felt quite confident now in reading his emotions and actions to avoid irritating him further.

The next thing Aster noticed was, that the ceiling of the hall was non-existent. She’d read that it has been enchanted to look like the sky outside. Of course, Miss Know-It-All Hermione had read that too and was now telling everyone who was too slow to avoid her. Aster rolled her eyes again.

They stopped in front of a stool, where the Sorting Hat was placed. Severus had told her all about the sorting process, so she wasn’t as nervous as others were. Still, she was severely surprised to hear him start singing.

_“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,_

_But don’t judge on what you see,_

_I’ll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There’s nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can’t see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You’ll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don’t be afraid!_

_And don’t get in a flap!_

_You’re in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I’m a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall burst into applause, including Aster and all the other first years, for they have never heard a hat sing.

“I will now call your names in alphabetical order. When your name has been called, please step onto the stool and put the hat over your head.”, Professor McGonagall said after the hall had settled down.

“Abbott, Hannah.” – “HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Bones, Susan.” – “HUFFLEPUFF!”

“Boot, Terry.” – “RAVENCLAW!”

“Brown, Lavender.” – “GRYFFINDOR!”

“Bulstrode, Millicent.” (Aster pulled a face) – “SLYTHERIN!”

“Evans, Aster.”

With slightly shaking hands, Aster made her way onto the stool. _“Hmm… curious, curious. I didn’t know the Potters had another child.” – “Well, I didn’t know I was a Potter child until a week or so ago too, so that makes two of us.”,_ she clapped back, _“Hah, a feisty one. Well, your parents were both in Gryffindor, but while being brave and courageous, you don’t have a Gryffindor heart. While loyal and kind, you are only kind and loyal to those who you think deserve it, so Hufflepuff is not the one for you either. Exceptionally bright, you are, extremely intelligent, yes, so Ravenclaw might be where you belong, but I sense a cunning in you, an ambition to prove yourself. To make sure people remember you. Interesting, very interesting. Ravenclaw could help you to do great things, but to really come as far as you want, to prove yourself to everyone who has ever doubted you, the only house to help you achieve that is …_

SLYTHERIN!”


	4. watch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song of the chapter is watch by Billie Eilish

_It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness._

**\- Lucius Annaeus Seneca**

_„… SLYTHERIN!“_

A very prominent smirk formed on Asters face when she heard the name of the house she would belong to for the next several years. Aster stood up as soon as Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head, walking over to the table which housed all her elder friends she’d made over the previous years. She saw Miles Bletchley and Marcus Flint, both on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and several others. When she looked onto the staff table where she saw that Severus had formed a small smile and clapped alongside the other teachers and the Slytherin’s. They were the only house that clapped loudly, being not very popular amongst the other houses, although the Hufflepuff students clapped as well, just out of politeness. Aster found the eyes of an older, quite handsome, student with dark hair and grey eyes who smiled slightly when she looked over, making Aster blush.

She sat down across from Millicent and Crabbe, being the only other student having been sorted into Slytherin so far, though Aster didn’t doubt that the others would join them soon.

After a Justin Finch-Fletchley was sorted into Hufflepuff and a Seamus Finnegan was sorted into Gryffindor, it was Goyle’s turn, who was sorted, to no one’s surprise, into Slytherin as well. After him, the bossy girl from the train was called.

“Granger, Hemione.”, Professor McGonagall said, and the bushy haired girl sat eagerly onto the stool and almost smashed the hat against her head.

“GRYFFINDOR!”, the hat shouted, and Aster smirked when seeing that Ron groaned.

The Neville boy, who was a Longbottom, was sorted into Gryffindor and in his excitement forgot to put down the hat, so he had to run back to give it to some boy Aster had never heard about to which she had to roll her eyes while slightly chuckling in amusement.

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called; the hat hadn’t even touched his head properly when shouting “SLYTHERIN!” and Aster, along with the rest of her house, clapped soundly to make up for the absence of the other houses clapping. Draco sat next to Aster and she gave him a smirk that he returned.

Theodore was also sorted into Slytherin, much to Aster’s delight, and so was Pansy, which turned Asters smile upside down. And then after a set of twins that were sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, finally, Harry Potter was called upon the stool.

Immediately the whole hall began murmuring and everybody looked eagerly to the front. It was very quiet for a couple of minutes and Aster was hoping for her brother to be sorted into her house, but that hope was soon diminished when she saw him forming the words “Not Slytherin”, over and over, which made Aster grind her teeth and glowering towards her sibling.

Finally, the hat shouted Gryffindor and the whole hall, except for the Slytherins, started cheering loudly. Aster stared intently to the boy as he walked over to the table next to hers with a relieved smile. He seemed to sense her stare as he looked over to her but instead of looking away, and being ashamed to be caught staring, she just continued to look at him and slowly a tiny smile formed on Asters face, which Harry returned equally as slowly.

After Ron was also sorted into Gryffindor and Blaise finally joined them at the Slytherin table, being the last one as his name started with Z, they all focused back to the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. He was a very old man with a beard longer than Asters hair and whiter than Draco’s.

The murmuring died down and Dumbledore began to speak: “Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!”

And with that the golden and silver plates began to magically fill before their own eyes and the students all dug in, well, except maybe Pansy and Millicent, as they were “on a diet”, to which Aster only scoffed, but hey, if they weren’t eating, there was more for her.

It was extremely loud in the Great Hall with so many students being inside it talking, that Aster soon developed a headache. She wasn’t used to the noise; growing up it has always been quiet where she was, either at Malfoy Manor or in Snape’s home; even when she was at the frequent pureblood parties it wasn’t this loud, as most discussions were usually confidential so the wizards had to keep their voice down or cast a silencing charm around them.

“You okay?”, Draco asked quietly next to her. “Why do you care?”, Aster scoffed, but Draco only shrugged. “I was only trying to be nice.” – “Well, don’t. Empathy doesn’t really suit your image, does it.”, she countered while smirking at him. He raised an eyebrow but decided not to say anything, so they ate in silence. The Slytherin students talked with quiet voices, being raised that way, but it was overshadowed by the other students.

After they were all finished with their feast and the food vanished, Dumbledore held a speech, reminding them that, amongst other things, the Forbidden Forest was, well, forbidden, and: “Finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”

Aster furrowed their brows together; Snape hadn’t mentioned anything about something unusual going on at Hogwarts, and she was keen to find out what it was. She saw Harry laughing at Dumbledore’s statement, but he quickly shut his mouth before also furrowing his brows and talking to another redhead next to him that must’ve been a couple of years older than Aster and who was also looking worriedly at Dumbledore. He had an aura of authority on him that Aster couldn’t wait to challenge. She also saw a shining Prefect badge on his robes.

Aster was so deep in her thoughts, that she didn’t realise that the whole school has started singing the Hogwarts song, and only did when Draco elbowed her into her side. She quickly recovered from the pain and started singing as well, to some tune she just thought of, while reading the lyrics off a sheet that was magically elevated so that everyone could see it.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

Dumbledore conducted until the last student – who were actually another set of twins, ginger as well with a lot of freckles on their faces ( _Blimey, how many Weasleys are there really?_ , Aster thought), who were singing to a slow funeral tune. Aster snickered and one of the twins caught her and gave her a wink to which she just raised both of her eyebrows and smirked. At last, those two finished as well and Dumbledore beckoned all the first years to follow their prefects and wished them a good night.

Aster followed their fifth-year prefects town to the dungeons where their common room was located, alongside Snape’s classroom, the Hufflepuff common room and, supposedly (if you believe the rumours) the kitchens as well. On the way downstairs, Aster saw the handsome Hufflepuff boy again and gave him a little smile, which Blaise seemed to notice, as he poked her into the side and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively to her. Aster just shoved him while laughing quietly which just got louder when Blaise stumbled against Pansy and brought her down with him. “How’s the weather down there?”, Aster asked the pair while smirking. Blaise and Pansy glowered at her and started to say something in return when their female prefect called them out: “Hurry up, we haven’t got all night just to wait for you three. I will say the password to the common room once, and if you don’t hear it, it’s your loss.”

Aster snickered and walked to the front, where the male prefect just gave her a wink before starting to talk. “This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. It’s guarded by a password, just like the Gryffindor one. The other two houses are guarded differently – you have to solve a riddle to get into Ravenclaw tower, and you have to tap something in some kind of rhythm to get into the Hufflepuff common room, but nobody really knows what it is, and I don’t recommend trying it out; when doing it wrong, any kind of wrong that is, you will be drenched in vinegar, and I can assure you that you won’t be allowed into our common room when looking and smelling like that, just to be clear. The password changes every fortnight and will be posted on the notice board but for now it’s _Sacred twenty-eight_.”

The large stone wall opened at the password and revealed a large room. “Welcome to the Slytherin Common Room”, said the female prefect. The room was decorated in dark colours, mainly of green and black but you could also see specks of silver here and there. The Slytherin banner with the house emblem was seen hanging from the ceiling, and there were several seating possibilities, such as two large, comfortable looking sofas and a couple of armchairs in front of the fireplace, but also some tables with chairs in front of them.

It was quite beautiful, Aster thought to herself. There wasn’t much light coming into the room, except for the lit fireplace and the lanterns, as the common room was under the lake. Aster could’ve sworn she saw something large swimming past one of the windows, but she couldn’t be too sure.

“The girl’s dormitories are the stairs to the right and the boy’s to the left. The Gryffindor dormitories are enchanted so that the boys can’t enter the girl’s rooms, but it’s an unnecessary precaution as we all know that we Slytherins are more disciplined than the Gryffindors. We expect you to act accordingly, especially outside of this common room. If you do not comply to our rules regarding manners, et cetera, we _will_ deduct points from you, and let me promise you this: If you want peaceful seven years in this house, you will have to act accordingly.

“Your trunks have already been brought upstairs to your beds. Breakfast is from 7 to 8:30 am, classes start at 9. Be punctual or there will be consequences. The Slytherin house ghost is the Bloody Baron. He will help you when Peeves, the Poltergeist, is annoying you – lucky for us, the Bloody Baron is the only one who can control Peeves. Just, don’t ask him why he is bloody – he doesn’t like that.

“Our head of house is Professor Snape, he is also the Potions teacher. He is quite ruthless, so if you do anything stupid, don’t do it in front of him.”, the female prefect said seriously. But then she started smiling, as did the male prefect, who continued for her.

“Us Slytherins might not have the best reputation amongst the other houses, but that doesn’t have to be a negative thing. We keep to ourselves; we always have, and we always will, as in Slytherin you will develop friendships for life, and you will achieve greatness.

“You all have the qualities our founder, Salazar Slytherin, wants for his students and you can be damn proud of that too. Maybe the other houses think we’re evil, just because we’re not nice to everyone, but don’t let them get to you. If you need help, any older student is willing to be of assistance; we help our kind.

“We’re a family from now on, and family sticks together. You’ve been chosen for the best house there is and don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. We wish you a great first year in Hogwarts, and do not disappoint us. Good night.”

̴

The next morning, Aster wasn’t so happy anymore. Apparently as a Slytherin you had to look your best, so Daphne, Pansy and Millicent woke her up at 6:30 am to get ready and Aster was not having it. She liked mornings as much as anyone did, which meant, as long as she could wake up on her own terms, she was fine, but whenever somebody woke her up, especially before 7 am, she was not the easiest person to deal with.

So that morning, when she was woken up, she contemplated hexing the other girls in her dorm, but decided it wasn’t worth the detention she would get. And Snape’s wrath. Godfather or not, she knew he wouldn’t be easy on her, but she also knew it was because he wanted to challenge her to get to the best of her abilities. So, with a lot of complaining, she finally got up after Daphne threatened to soak her in cold water if she wouldn’t get up.

After dressing and taming her hair, she and the other girls went downstairs to the common room where they met the boys. Together they walked to the Great Hall to get something for breakfast. Harry arrived not soon after them, and it seemed that wherever he went, whispers and eyes would follow him. Aster could understand the behaviour to some degree, but that didn’t mean she liked it, but what could she say anyways.

After breakfast Severus came to the long table to give out the timetables. He stopped at the new students first. “I expect outstanding performances from all of you. No less than an Acceptable on all your papers and exams, not only my class. We will see each other on Friday for the first time. Don’t embarrass me. Aster, could I have a word?” She nodded and stood up to walk a little bit to the side so no one could hear them.

“What is it, Uncle Severus?”, she asked.

“First of all, you cannot call me that here. It’s Professor Snape for everyone and that includes you. Just because you are my goddaughter and a student in my house doesn’t mean you will get special treatment. Your brother will get that enough, but you won’t, do you understand?” – she nodded – “Good. Now, I don’t want you to tell Potter right away that you are related, alright? I want you to establish yourself within this school first before it becomes public knowledge that you are also a … Potter.” he gritted his teeth when saying that name and Aster nodded again.

“Good. I expect you in my office every Thursday after your last lesson so that we can work on some potions. I want you to be on top of your class, that includes beating all the other houses too, especially in Potions, do you understand? Good …”, he trailed off and Aster looked expectantly upon him.

“…” She raised both her eyebrows.

“… Study hard.”, Severus finally said.

Aster smirked, she knew that was the most she would get out of him, especially in front of the whole school. “Thank you and I will, Professor.”, she finally said and sat back down. Feeling her neck tingle, she moved her head and saw Harry staring at her with dark eyes. She furrowed her brows and mouthed “ _What_?” but he just shook his head and cast his eyes down to his plate, so Aster shrugged and continued her breakfast.

̴

Just after she and her friends exited the Great Hall to go back to their dorms to get their bags, she heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Harry running towards her with a grumpy looking Ron trailing after him. Pansy and Millicent snickered, and Aster swore she could her them talking shit about her. “I guess Aster has an admirer, and of course it’s Potter, no wonder, she could never get someone else except for that pathetic loser.”, Pansy whispered too loudly, and Millicent laughed again. Aster shot them a dark look that said “ _One more word and you’re dead”_ before turning back around to Harry. The look shut the two girls up, which made Aster smirk. She loved being so powerful in comparison to her peers.

“Go on, I will meet you later”, she said to her friends with her back still turned to them, but she heard shuffling and soon the corridor was empty and silent except for Harry’s heavy breathing he tried to control.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Aster raised an eyebrow staring at the two boys expectantly. “Well?”, she said.

“What were you talking about with Snape?”, Harry asked quickly, still a bit breathless. Asters second eyebrow shot up and looked to her brother with a puzzled expression.

“Um … School stuff?”, she asked with a tone as if it was obvious. “He _is_ my head of house, if you remember.”, she continued slowly.

“Don’t trust him.”, he almost interrupted her.

“Excuse me?”, she scoffed. “What makes you think I can’t trust him?” – “He’s evil. Last night, at the feast, I caught him staring at me whilst talking to Professor Quirrell, and my scar started hurting really badly. I think he might work for Voldemort.”

Ron and Aster flinched at the name of the Dark Wizard, but she quickly gained control over her facial expression again. “Don’t be stupid Harry. You-Know-Who is gone and everyone who was a follower of his is either dead or in Azkaban.”, she said.

“Not everyone.”, Ron murmured which made Aster’s green eyes turn to him, looking at him with a dark expression. Ron blushed, “I mean … the Malfoys were never convicted; everyone knows that Mr. Malfoy was a follower and could weasel himself out of Azkaban.”, he quickly tried to explain himself, not realising that he made matters worse.

Aster turned back to Harry, completely ignoring Ron’s statement. “Look, I know Snape isn’t the nicest person on the planet, but he is not evil. Dumbledore trusts him, doesn’t he? Plus, I’ve been living with him ever since my parents died, so I would think I know him pretty well, don’t you?”

“You what?!”, Harry and Ron asked loudly at the same time.

“He’s my godfather, you dimwits.” Aster rolled her eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have to go to my room to get my bag, and I don’t fancy getting detention on my first day for being late to Transfigurations. I heard Professor McGonagall is quite strict.”, she said and turned around to leave.

“Don’t sweat it Harry, of course she’ll stick up for Snape. She’s a Slytherin, they can’t be trusted. They’re all evil, as I told you. She’s not worth it.”, Ron mumbled, and Aster had to use all her strength not to turn around and strangle the ginger boy.

Instead, she held her head higher and continued walking down the stairs as if she hadn’t heard a word. She would get the Weasley back one day, but for now, she ignored his statement once again, her thoughts of revenge being the only thing keeping her walking. _One day, Weasley_ , she thought, _One day you will see exactly how evil we are._


	5. Dangerous Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the Kudos, Subscriptions and Bookmarks! Enjoy this chapter, sorry for uploading so late - I had quite a busy time the past weeks :)
> 
> Song of the chapter is Dangerous Game by Klergy

_“Maintain an active mind: alert to the possibilities and mischievous in your pursuit of them.”_

**― Stewart Stafford**

̴

The following week had been as uneventful as the first week in a school for witchcraft could be. Aster soon got into a routine of waking up at 6:30 am, getting dressed, going upstairs for breakfast, going to class, lunch, class, homework, dinner and talking to her friends. She was enjoying her time at Hogwarts a lot. Her teachers were strict, but she loved her classes. Until now her favourite classes were Transfigurations, Charms and Astronomy.

She excelled at each of her classes, except for Herbology, she just couldn’t get the hang out of caring for the plants, even though she knew their uses as she needed the knowledge for brewing potions. Defence against the Dark Arts was a joke, and everyone agreed with her. Professor Quirrell was a jumpy teacher who stuttered the whole hour of class, so they didn’t learn much, but he still gave them a whole lot of homework to do.

The most fun of all was when they had classes with the Gryffindor students. As Aster predicted, Hermione Granger was a Know It All who just had to shove it into all of their faces. That said, it was even more fun to beat Granger in spellcasting and transfiguring things and earning house points for it. Aster could tell that the more time passed the more furious Granger got with her and the more she was desperate in beating Aster in their work.

She hadn’t been talking with Harry at all for the last couple of days, but she did see the not so secret glances he gave her during meal times or classes, but she couldn’t be bothered to act upon it. If Harry wanted to talk to her so badly and convince her of Snape being evil, he would have to make the first move.

However, she did make acquaintances with that pretty Hufflepuff boy from the feast. His name was Cedric Diggory and the first time they properly talked was more or less based on an accident. Some Gryffindor boys thought it would be funny to release waterbombs on her as she was walking down the stairs, but she slipped and would’ve tumbled down if it wasn’t for Cedric, as he caught her just before she could fall.

She had laughed on the outside thanking Cedric over and over, but on the inside Aster was fuming. It was those Weasley twins as she had caught their identical laughter on top of the stairs, so she decided she would pay them back later, she just didn’t know how yet.

Cedric and Aster started talking as they both went the same direction to their respective common rooms and he was the first person outside of Slytherin who treated her like a normal human being, not some evil witch who would kill everyone the first chance she got.

They got along pretty well, him asking how her first lessons were, and laughing about stupid things he did in classes when he started at Hogwarts. Even though he made her blush the first day she quickly realised they would never be more than friends, as he was just too _nice_ for her; but she really did enjoy talking to the older boy.

It was now Thursday evening, after dinner, and she was in Severus’ office, brewing some potion for the 4th years.

“How was your first week so far?”, Severus asked after an hour of silence.

“Pretty good,” Aster replied, “I’m probably on top of my class at everything, except Herbology and History of Magic. There’s this one girl though, Hermione Granger is her name, she’s a muggleborn Gryffindor and apparently feels like she has to prove to everyone that she is _so_ great.”, she rolled her eyes, “but it’s pretty fun to see her all worked up when I have gotten something right before her”, Aster said with a wicked smile which widened as she saw Severus’ lips twitch ever so slightly, though she couldn’t tell if it was to turn into a smirk or a sneer, but that didn’t matter anyways, because as soon as it came it went away again.

“You ought to do better in Herbology and in History of Magic, then.”, was the only reply she got to which she scoffed.

“I know, Professor, I just don’t see the point in History. I mean, Professor Binns is a bloody ghost-“ – “Don’t swear, Aster.” – “and so boring, I could sleep the whole class and wouldn’t miss anything that I couldn’t read in the first place. Plus, his homework is somewhat of a joke, as he only asks our opinion on stuff, so I can just make something stupid up and would still get an Outstanding.”

Severus looked at her with a dark expression and she smiled sheepishly. She had a bad mouth, especially for her age, she knew that, but it was the fault of those Muggle novels she’d been reading whenever she was bored. They had some very foul language in them, and Severus wasn’t very fond of that, but no matter what he tried, he couldn’t get her to stop using those words – _or_ reading those books.

“But I promise to do better in Herbology.” – “Good.” And with that the talking between them stopped at once. While Aster didn’t mind the silence, she was getting bored pretty soon, though she didn’t dare say anything.

After a couple of hours they finished for the day and she went back to her common room to start the Astronomy homework she had gotten the day before. She had always been interested in the planets, stars and their constellations. Narcissa had told her quite a bit when she was a child, growing up a Black she knew all about the constellations, as they had this weird thing going on, naming their children after one.

̴

It was Friday, and the only class they had was double Potions with her godfather. Aster had been looking forward to this day the whole week, although she had been a bit bummed that she would share the class with the Gryffindors.

She sat down with Theodore, Blaise, Daphne, and Draco at one of the tables, while Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Millicent sat at the table next to them. Pansy was glowering at Aster as she took the last available seat at said table, as it was common knowledge amongst their little group that Pansy fancied Draco. She always had, ever since they were little children, and while their parents thought it was adorable, Aster was getting quite exhausted by Pansy’s behaviour as she was the one who had to endure it in their dorm. Draco of course was eating up the attention he got from Pansy.

As everyone had settled they were talking amongst themselves when Severus came dramatically into the room, his robes flowing behind him. Aster had to hold a hand before her mouth so that her godfather wouldn’t see her snickering, but of course he did, and gave her a slight glare before turning his attention back to the whole class.

He started the class with a roll call, and when he got to Harry, he paused for a moment.

“Ah, yes,” he said softly, “Harry Potter. Our new – celebrity.”

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking,” he began. “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

The silence that followed made Aster’s snort stand out even more and every pair of eyes landed on her.

“Is anything funny to you, Miss Evans?”, Snape asked with raised eyebrows. “Not at all, Professor.”, she replied cheekily. “Very well then … Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Harry looked thoroughly confused at that question, but Hermione’s hand shot into the air before Snape could even finish the question. Just to infuriate Hermione more, Aster raised her hand lazily in the air as well, which Snape noticed with a short look to her.

“I don’t know, sir”, Harry replied.

Severus smacked his lips. “Fame clearly isn’t everything”, he said with a sneer. “Let’s try again - where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?” – “I don’t know, sir.”

“What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?” – “I don’t know. But Hermione does, though, why don’t you try her?”

A few people laughed at that, but Aster didn’t. She had caught onto Severus’ meaning behind his words. Growing up with him, he told her all about the meaning of different plants and their use in potions. That knowledge helped her with a lot of experimenting with potions, but also with understanding what Snape was telling Harry indirectly.

She knew that asphodel was a form of lily, in Greek mythology it symbolised death, and according to the Victorian flower language it could translate to “My regrets follow you to the grave” and that wormwood means “absence” and also typically symbolised bitter sorrow. She understood that Snape was trying to tell Harry, and, she figured, indirectly also her, that he bitterly regretted Lily’s death. She also felt sorrow in her heart; as much as she loved growing up with Snape and the Malfoys, she did wonder sometimes how her life would’ve turned out if she did grow up with her parents alongside Harry. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so bitter and nasty all the time. Maybe she would actually feel something besides the emptiness in her heart that only went away for short moments. Maybe she would’ve actually been happy.

“Sit down.”, he sneered at Hermione, snapping Aster out of her depressing thoughts, before turning to her. “Miss Evans, please, enlighten us with your knowledge.”, he drawled.

“Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful people call it the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.”, she replied immediately while looking at her godfather with sad eyes. He caught the meaning behind her look but didn’t say anything, but she could see how he tensed when he realised she understood his references.

“Very good, Miss Evans. 10 points to Slytherin.”, he told her. “Well, why aren’t you all copying that down?”, he asked the class after a couple of silent moments. Rustling was heard as they all took a piece of parchment and their quills out of their bags to write it down, but Aster didn’t bother as she knew the information by heart, as she just had demonstrated and Snape didn’t comment on it, so she leaned back instead and enjoyed the short moment of silence.

Aster felt Hermione’s stare from a couple of tables down and leaned forwards to give that girl a cheeky wink and a smirk over Draco’s shoulder to which the smart Gryffindor witch only scoffed.

After a point was taken from Harry for him being “cheeky”, to put it in Snape’s words, the lesson didn’t seem to go well for the Gryffindors. Snape was criticising everyone except for Draco and Aster; that Neville boy had actually managed to melt Seamus Finnigan’s cauldron and had to be sent to the Hospital Wing; Harry got taken another point away for not helping Neville, which Aster found to be a bit unfair, but she didn’t comment on it.

After getting another five points to Slytherin for her perfect potion – which was not surprising, considering she had made the potion several times since she was seven years old – the lesson ended.

Aster walked outside with Daphne, Theodore and Blaise, only to overhear Ron muttering that Snape was quite famous for being nasty and mentioning something about going to Hagrid, the gamekeeper Aster saw in Diagon Alley and who led the first years to the castle the previous Sunday, but Aster blissfully ignored his remark about her godfather and strode past the two boys without acknowledging either of them.

As Potions was the only class they had on Fridays, Aster went back to her dorm to drop her bag before walking back downstairs to the Common Room where she found the usual gang of first year Slytherins sitting by the fire, talking.

She sat down on one of the sofas, right between Blaise and Theodore, who both protested of being shoved aside.

Not talking or listening at all, Aster seemed to be deep in thoughts, though her friends could only guess to where her mind had drifted. Surprisingly for all of them, Aster didn’t think about anything worthwhile, as she contemplated how to get back to the Weasley twins for their prank. Contrary to popular belief, Aster wasn’t always the stone-cold girl everyone saw on the outside. While she knew how to behave herself in front of the adults, especially the pure blood ones and their Professors, she was still an eleven-year-old girl who wanted, or needed, a bit of fun for a change.

Not really coming to a suitable conclusion to her problem, Aster made her way upstairs to the Great Hall for lunch. On her way up she met Cedric who beckoned her over. Telling her friends they could continue without her, she walked up to the older boy. “I may have a solution for you problem,” he whispered with a cheeky undertone to his voice, but Aster only quirked one of her eyebrows.

“Which one?”, she asked with a smirk to which Cedric only chuckled.

“The double trouble problem I witnessed.”, he continued to whisper secretively to her, and an even larger smirk formed onto Aster’s face.

“What is it?” – “I’ve heard from a very trustworthy source that the twins like to sneak into the kitchens at night to nick some food.”

“Oh?” Aster felt an idea slowly forming in her mind and Cedric could see a mischievous glimmer in the younger girl’s eyes to which he smirked slightly.

“And how, purely hypothetically asking, how would you get into the kitchens?”, she asked but lowered her voice when some Hufflepuff first years passed the pair, eyeing them suspiciously. While Hufflepuff was known for being friendly to everyone who didn’t get on their bad side, it wasn’t a common sight for a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin to stand close and whispering. Especially not a popular Hufflepuff student like Cedric was. Nevertheless, the first year Hufflepuffs continued walking.

The amused smirk on Cedric’s face grew and he moved his fingers, indicating her to follow him to a corridor that lead to the Hufflepuff common room’s entrance. It differed a lot from the other corridors she was used to in the dungeons, for it was not dark and gloomy, but rather well lit and friendly, just like the Hufflepuff students were.

Aster quite liked the feeling she got from the corridor, it made her feel at ease and kind of happy, though she didn’t know why – maybe it was excitement rather than happiness, for she had now finally a solid plan to pay the Weasleys back.

They halted in front of a large painting containing a couple of fruits in a bowl and Aster had to hold back a snort, as she thought it couldn’t have been more obvious that the kitchens were behind it, even though she didn’t know how to get the painting to open to the entrance behind it.

Cedric held a finger to his mouth to signal her to be quiet and gestured with his other hand to get behind him as they heard another couple of students coming closer and those Hufflepuffs would be very suspicious indeed if there was a student from another house near their common room, especially a student from Slytherin.

Aster complied and moved behind Cedric’s back, standing as close as possible so that his robes could hide her. She tried to breathe very slowly and shallow so that the other students wouldn’t hear her.

“What are you doing here, Cedric? It’s lunch time.”, said Beatrice Haywood, an older Hufflepuff student.

“I’m waiting for Heidi.”, he answered easily but Beatrice only quirked an eyebrow. “Heidi already went upstairs for lunch.” – “Oh, really?”, Cedric asked with surprise in his voice and Beatrice nodded.

“Alright, I’ll just get something from the common room that she was supposed to bring and then I’ll come upstairs as well.”

“Ok, Cedric. But … be careful, ok? I know you affiliate with the Evans girl, just … don’t trust her, ok? She might be nice, but she’s still a Slytherin.”

Aster tensed behind Cedric and balled her hands together into Cedric’s robes. She saw him nod and promise Beatrice he would. She returned the nod and waltzed off with her friends.

After Cedric suspected they were far enough away to not hear them, he turned around to the girl he considered his friend. “I’m sorry about her. She’s had some tough years at Hogwarts and doesn’t trust anyone at first.”, he tried to explain but Aster just shook her head bitterly.

“I never thought of Slytherin being received so badly by the other students and was happy to be sorted in there, but it’s not only her that has those thoughts. I talked to Harry and Ron a little bit on the train, and we seemed to get along just fine, but they act reserved now, too, when they are with me – or at least, Harry does, Ron is just very hostile to Slytherin students … I don’t know, it makes me question if I’m really such a bad person they seem to think me as.”, she sighed and shook her head once more and stared to the ground.

Cedric took a breath to say something but Aster suddenly snapped her head back up and the mischievous glint in her eyes and her easy going smile had returned – though Cedric could see that it’s not entirely genuine, but decided to not press the matter, so he gripped her shoulders with gentle hands and turned her around to the painting.

“You have to tickle the pear, look.”, he said and she turned around to look as he reached over her shoulder to tickle the pear. It started to laugh manically, and the painting opened to reveal its entrance.

As soon as Aster saw all those house-elfs, bowing to the pair and greeting them, her smile became more real, but also more roguish. Oh, she knew exactly what to do now. But it had to wait for at least a week or two. For now, she wanted to get lunch.

̴

Aster was walking into the Great Hall, alone, as Cedric had to go back to his common room – apparently the lie he had told Beatrice wasn’t a lie after all and he seemed somewhat pissed at Heidi; she was also on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was supposed to bring him the notes from their last training, but forgot, so he had to get them himself as he had only one day to look through them before giving it to another member of the team.

Sitting down at the Slytherin table, she saw that most of her friends had already finished their lunch and were now talking to each other casually. They looked at her funny and Tracey Davis, another first year, asked her where she’d been this time, but Aster just smiled mysteriously and helped herself to a serving of roast chicken with some potatoes.

She didn’t know Tracey all that well as she was a half-blood like Aster herself, but Tracey wasn’t brought up in the pure blood community like she had, so they only met when Tracey was also sorted into Slytherin; the girls maintained a friendly relationship, but weren’t friends as of yet.

As the weather was particularly nice that day, the small group of friends decided that they would go out to the lake to enjoy the rest of the sun before it got dark.

Aster settled down with a copy of the Daily Prophet she had gotten from Adrian Pucey, another student who was also on the Slytherin Quidditch team, while her friends talked and gossiped to one another. She occasionally heard Draco talking about flying and Quidditch, complaining that the first years weren’t allowed to play, and for once, she had to agree with him; and he talked quite a bit about Harry Potter. His tone suggested that he was jealous of the attention the boy got, not only from their peers, but also from the Professors.

Finally looking at the title page of the Prophet, Aster immediately furrowed her brows. There had been a break-in at Gringotts, she’d read that once and Ron had been talking about that as well, as his brother Bill was working for the bank, although he was currently located in Egypt. Even though the Goblins working at the bank insisted that nothing had been taken and they should all keep their noses out of the Goblin’s business, Aster wondered why the Prophet made such a big deal out of it, until she continued reading and saw that many believed the break-in was conducted by a dark wizard or witch currently unknown.

Deciding that the article wasn’t worth her time, she skipped to the sports section, where all the latest Quidditch news were displayed. Aster was an avid fan of the Montrose Magpies and was always looking for some news regarding the team, but she was disappointed to find none. She only found an article about the Chudley Cannons; it was reported there were some internal conflicts as they hadn’t won the League Cup for almost 100 years, but she wasn’t very interested in the team, so she put down the newspaper and focused her attention onto her friends.

As the evening drew close they decided to walk back to the castle to get started on their homework before dinner.

The rest of the evening went by uneventfully and at last, Aster lay in her bed, quite pleased with the plan she’d come up with to prank the Weasley twins back.

The last thought she had before she fell asleep was, how she would get her godfather to cooperate. But that was a thought for another time.


	6. Come As You Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello y'all! 
> 
> I just wanted to thank you all for the support!
> 
> Song of the chapter is Come As You Are by Nirvana!

_I want freedom for the full expression of my personality._

**\- Mahatma Gandhi**

̴

A week has gone by and it was yet again Thursday. Aster had gotten quite a bit of homework over the weekend and the following week, so she was very preoccupied with that – so much, that she hadn’t thought at all how she would ask Severus of her particular favour. Every time the thoughts would come up, she shoved them aside with the excuse that she wouldn’t see him until Thursday anyway. The problem in that plan, though, was, that it was only mere hours until she would have her weekly potion making session with her godfather, and she still didn’t know how to start that conversation she so desperately wanted.

And yet, she told herself she would worry after class – for it was their first flying lesson, and even though Aster could fly quite well, she hadn’t flown in a while and was eager to do so. But, as usual, things would not go according to plan.

They had flying lessons with the Gryffindors, which was in itself not a problem, but Aster had some kind of feeling that something would happen – and she was right. She and the rest of the Slytherins arrived before the Gryffindors and were just waiting for them, whilst Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, was counting the brooms.

At last, the Gryffindor students arrived, and Madam Hooch told them in a hurried voice to stand beside a broom and say “Up!”

Aster’s and Draco’s broom flew upwards into their hands immediately, and to Aster’s surprise, so had Harry’s. Hermione’s just rolled over, and Aster had to conceal a snigger with a cough, but Hermione caught onto it and glowered at her to which Aster only smirked.

As soon as everyone’s broom was in their hands – either through magic or picking it up – Madam Hooch told them to mount it and started to correct their grips. She just had gone to Draco – apparently he had done it wrong in all those years, and Aster had to hold back a snicker yet again – when Madam Hooch came to her. Her grip was better than Draco’s, but still not perfect. Madam Hooch took Aster’s right hand and moved it a bit forward, while moving the left hand a bit back, while telling her that she had made a minor mistake that usually people did while riding the broom for the first time. This time, Hermione had to conceal a snigger and Aster scoffed slightly while rolling her eyes.

“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” said Madam Hooch. “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle – three – two –“

But that Gryffindor boy who had lost his toad on the train, Neville Longbottom, jumped slightly, looking terrified and pushed hard off the floor before the whistle had been blown.

Madam Hooch was screaming for the boy to come down, but Neville was rising higher and higher – up to twenty feet into the air. Aster could see the frightened look in Neville’s face before he slid sideways off the broom onto the ground.

A loud smack sounded with the breaking of a bone; Aster winced at the sound, and so did several others, but Neville only groaned.

After muttering something about a broken wrist, Madam Hooch heaved Neville up and turned to the rest of the class.

“None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch’. Come on, dear.” And with that, the two wandered (or more like, staggered) to the castle.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Draco burst into laughter. “Did you see his face, the great lump?” The other Slytherins, except for Aster, who just smirked slightly, joined in.

Aster didn’t listen to their bickering until Draco picked something up which looked a lot like a Remembrall.

“Give that here, Malfoy,” said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch. Draco smiled nastily.

“I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find – how about … up a tree?”

“Give it here!” – “Draco, don’t.”, Harry yelled while Aster murmured at the same time, but Draco ignored both of them, mounted his broom and took off before either of them could react. He just shot a glance at Aster, who looked worriedly upwards to the flying boy. She shook her head slightly but only got a wink back. “Come and get it, Potter!”, he shouted to said boy.

Before Aster could do anything, Harry had mounted his broom as well but was stopped by Hermione, who said he could get himself and all of them in trouble, and for once, Aster had to agree with her, although she didn’t say it out loud. He ignored the bushy haired girl and leapt off the ground as well.

Aster’s eyebrows shot up – how could Harry fly that well? As far as she knew, he grew up with Muggles who weren’t exactly fond of the wizarding community, so Aster thought he had never flown before. Yet here he was, flying as if he had never done anything else. It was quite remarkable, and Aster had to admit that she was impressed, if not a little bit jealous of her brother’s obvious talent.

Draco and Harry seemed to have a heated discussion up in the air, but Aster couldn’t understand a single word. Suddenly, Draco threw the Remembrall higher up, away from Harry and landed, yet nobody’s eyes were on Draco, as Harry speeded after the ball and caught it just before slamming into the ground. The Gryffindors started cheering and even Aster had a small but prominent smile plastered onto her face, to which Draco only scowled when he saw it.

Harry landed safely but as soon as he did, there was a loud shout of his name by none other than Professor McGonagall. She took Harry by his arm and Draco looked quite triumphant.

After Professor McGonagall had gone inside with Harry, Aster smacked Draco’s head secretly, as everyone was talking to one another and didn’t look at them. “Ow! What was that for?”, he whisper-shouted at her. “Idiot! What if McGonagall had seen you in the air? You could’ve gotten expelled! Or hurt!”, she whisper-shouted back and slowly a smirk formed onto Draco’s face. “Were you worried about me?” but Aster only scoffed.

“I was worried about Slytherin’s reputation, you buffoon. You just can’t not get into trouble the first month, can you?”, she sneered at him, but Draco only rolled his eyes, as Madam Hooch had just returned and told them class was over.

̴

“Seeker?!”, both Aster and Ron exclaimed with stunned faces. She had sat down at the Gryffindor table by dinnertime, to the dismay of both houses (and Ron), but Aster didn’t care about either of them, she just wanted to know if Harry had been expelled – and she had expected a lot, but that he was now on the Gryffindor Quidditch team was in none of the scenarios she had imagined until dinner.

Aster didn’t want to admit it, but she was jealous. How could Harry not only not get expelled after being caught flying when Madam Hooch had explicitly told them not to, but also get a reward? It was quite unfair, Aster thought to herself, so she didn’t say more and just stood up to go to her own table. She could feel Harry’s eyes on her back, it felt like he wanted to say more, but she didn’t turn around to hear him out. Her hands were balled to fists so tightly that, when she opened them again after sitting down, she had marks from her fingernails on her palms.

“So? Is he getting expelled?”, Pansy asked with a snigger, but Aster just glowered at them. “He is the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”

“WHAT?”

Aster gritted her teeth. “Yeah, apparently they were looking for one anyway and McGonagall was _so_ impressed with him catching the Remembrall, so she got him onto the team.”

Having no appetite anymore, Aster excused herself from the table to go to bed. Before she was out of the Great Hall, though, she heard Draco complain loudly about Harry getting on the Gryffindor team as a first year, receiving many curious glances in return.

On the way to Slytherin corridor she passed the Hufflepuff corridor as well as the kitchens, and that thought brightened her mood for a bit. She had managed to convince her godfather to allow her to brew a potion of her choice rather one he would need for class. Luckily for her he didn’t ask what potion she was brewing, but, according to his look, he knew exactly what potion she had made but chose not to mention it.

With a little better mood, she entered the common room, where only a couple of older students sat, including Marcus Flint, who hadn’t been present in the Great Hall when she announced Harry had made the team, and suddenly Aster’s mood got bad again.

Choosing to not say anything to Flint, he would find out later anyway, she made her way up to her dorm directly to her bed.

Lying awake, she heard how her dormmates entered their room preparing for sleep, chatting to each other, with Harry being the number one topic, especially for Pansy who exclaimed in a very loud tone how _her_ Draco should make the team as well, just to be fair – as if she knew anything about fairness, thought Aster as she closed her eyes, trying to sleep.

It didn’t work, as Pansy continued talking as if she was the only one in the castle. After a couple of minutes, Aster drew the curtains of her bed open and glared at Pansy. “If you don’t shut up, or at least _talk more quietly_ , you won’t survive the night, Parkinson.”, she seethed at the girl, who had gone white as a sheet at Aster’s threat.

Pansy quickly caught herself, flipped her hair to the back and scoffed in a very high pitch. “Can’t I not even talk in-“ – “ _Nobody cares_ about your oh-so-obvious crush on Draco, Pansy,” Aster interrupted her, “If you’re _so_ desperate, just tell him, he probably knows already anyway, it’s not like subtlety is your strength. So please, do us all a favour, and just go to bed.” And with that, Aster drew her curtains close again and tried to sleep once again. This time, it thankfully worked.

̴

The next day didn’t start well for Aster. She woke up countless of times that night and at 5 am she decided it wasn’t worth going back to sleep again. She also had a killer headache, and the thought of Pansy’s shrill voice wouldn’t make it any better, so Aster dressed moodily and, at 7 am, walked to the Great Hall alone, thankful for a bit of silence before the noise would eventually start as soon as the other students would wake up and go to breakfast.

She met Harry on her way to the Great Hall. He looked at her warily, “You know,” he started, “Wood actually wanted me becoming seeker be a secret.” Aster only raised her eyebrows. “Oh, I’m _sorry_. I thought you would want the whole school to know that you’re the first one to make the team in over a century, being a first year and all,” she replied sarcastically. “You know, you don’t need to talk to me in that way, Aster.” But said girl only scoffed. “Or what, what will you do, Harry, hex me? You know what, nevermind, apparently the great Harry Potter can get away with anything without getting expelled, so go ahead and save me the trouble of this day.”, she snarled at him but didn’t wait for his answer as she strode away, her mood even lower than it had been the start of the day.

She sat down gloomily at the table and helped herself to some coffee, too angry and exhausted to eat. It didn’t take long for her friends to arrive. As soon as Pansy spotted the girl, she puffed her cheeks, flung her hair backwards (and hit Theodore in the process who scowled at her) and made a show of looking pointedly away from Aster, but she couldn’t care less what Pansy did. She was just glad that the Parkinson girl decided to sit the farthest from Aster than it could possibly be.

Everybody got the gist that Aster wanted to be left alone to eat in silence, so they talked with hushed voices to each other; well, everybody but Draco, as he sat down later than the others. “I just challenged Potter to a duel at midnight,” he exclaimed proudly. “You did what?” Aster muttered tiredly, “don’t you think you’ve gotten yourself in trouble enough?”

“Well, I’ve never been caught, have I? Plus, it’s not like I’m going – I just want Potter to think I am and getting caught in the attempt to go up to the trophy room at midnight.” His triumphant, arrogant smirk he was sending her way made Aster sick to her stomach. She knew Draco had always been kind of mean, but to see him this hostile was a complete other thing, and she didn’t know if she liked it.

“Can’t you leave Harry alone for once, Malfoy?”, she asked the blond boy with an exhausted voice.

“What’s gotten into you, Aster? Jealous that you’re not the centre of attention? I mean you don’t know any better, it’s not like you have parents that make you the centre of their attention, but you don’t have to be so moody about it”, he exclaimed laughing and a loud slap echoed across the hall as her hand collided with Draco’s cheek. Said boy looked at her with a stunned look, as his mocking smile had completely vanished from his face. The whole hall had gotten quiet as Aster stared at him with dark eyes.

“First of all, how dare _you_ tell _me_ I’m moody about not being the centre of attention when all you’ve been doing is sulking about how Potter gets all those privileges and you don’t, and second of all, my parents, Malfoy? Do you really have to stoop so low because I don’t react to your _oh-so genius plan_ with enthusiasm like your fangirls? I haven’t been sleeping well, my head hurts and your disgusting antics don’t make it any better so do me a favour please, and _shut up_ ,” she seethed at him and Draco looked like he wanted to say something but was interrupted by Snape.

“Come with me, Miss Evans. To everyone else, finish your breakfast quickly, I don’t want anyone to be late to my class, or there _will_ be consequences, Slytherin or not.”

Aster stood up immediately and followed her head of house out of the Great Hall into the corridor to his office. She felt bad for lashing out to Draco that much, she hadn’t meant to be so aggressive to him. She would have to apologise later.

The worst part was, she didn’t even know why she was so angry in the first place. Sure, she was annoyed that Harry had made the team, but that couldn’t be it, could it? Was it all just petty jealousy that her brother got it all, and she hadn’t?

They had reached the door to his office and Snape performed a great deal of spells to unlock it, which made Aster raise her eyebrows in astonishment, but she just shrugged it off and walked into the familiar room.

“What has gotten into you?!”, her godfather snarled at her as soon as the door was closed. Aster sighed quietly, slumped down on one of the chairs and put her head into her hands, which were positioned on her knees. She slowly shook her head and looked at the person she trusted the most with teary eyes.

“I don’t know,” she replied shakily. “It’s just … petty jealousy, I guess. I don’t even know why I’m so mad. I’m highly annoyed at Harry for dodging the rules but to be this angry? That’s not me, is it?”

Her godfather looked very uncomfortable with the crying girl but tried his best to console her. It was usually Narcissa’s job to do so, but as she wasn’t there at that moment, he would have to do. Slowly he walked to her and crouched down to be on eye level with his goddaughter.

“I understand you’re angry, Aster. But you mustn’t let that get to you, alright? They only want that, don’t they? To rile up a Slytherin, so that the student gets expelled. One less Slytherin, right?”, he told her with a bitter voice, his eyes distant as if he was recalling a moment that happened a long time ago.

He quickly caught himself. “You are better than that, Aster. You are an Evans, you must never forget that. Your mother, she was … she was everything I ever wanted to be. She was the light, friendly, funny – popular. But most importantly, she was confident. And I am sure that, wherever she is, she would be proud of the girl you have become. And you should be too. Be confident, be brave, be bold, be _yourself_ , Aster.”

Snape had yelped as the little girl’s arms suddenly wrapped around his neck to give him a hug. They had never hugged before, as he wasn’t particularly fond of being touched and her respecting that, but he didn’t comment it, nor did he push her away. He only saw Aster’s red hair as her face was buried in his neck, sobbing quietly, and he recalled the last time he had hugged someone – Lily. His love. The pain he felt seemed to be unbearable but nonetheless he slowly wrapped his arm around Lily’s daughter who looked like she could be her twin. Everything about Aster screamed Lily in a way Severus wished his childhood friend would have been.

It was not only the looks that deceived him, but how Aster acted as well in certain situations. She couldn’t control it, but she reminded him so much of Lily, it was astonishing. But then Aster had those characteristics that were so different from Lily’s. She was cunning, arrogant, slightly mean, had a temper (that reminded him of James Potter, and now his son as well), but she was also righteous in her own way.

The things she believed in were not necessarily considered as _good_ , but she believed in them wholeheartedly, and she defended her beliefs as if they were everything she was as a person. She would stick up for her friends, laugh with them, help them, cry with them if necessary, she was as loyal as a Hufflepuff, as intelligent as a Ravenclaw, as brave as a Gryffindor. But in her heart, she was a Slytherin, as she was a storm. And Severus Snape knew, that it was now just the calm before the storm hit, and he didn’t want to know what would cause the storm, because he knew, whoever would eventually cause it, would not survive without getting hurt in the process.

But neither would Aster. She was bound to get hurt sooner or later, everybody was, that was life in its own glory and obscurity, but he also knew that she would stand up again and again to fight. To fight for her beliefs, her friends, her _family_ – just like Lily did.

So, he hugged her, for the first time since she was born, and he made a silent promise to Lily Evans that he would protect her daughter until his last, dying breath.


	7. Way Down We Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost done with Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone)! I have decided to make the first two-three books a little bit shorter in chapters as it's more of an introduction to Aster - even though she's doing her own thing, the first couple of books, especially Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets are more Harry's story than Aster's, but the older she gets, the more her story divides from Harry's so stay tuned for that :)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading my story! We're at about 300 hits which is insane!!! 
> 
> Song for this chapter: Way Down We Go - Kaleo

_Do you dare to look him right in the eyes?_

**\- “Way Down We Go” by Kaleo**

Aster had gotten three days of detention with Snape for her behaviour in the Great Hall, whilst Draco had gotten one day of detention and an extra essay for Potions, which he deemed highly unfair and proceeded not to acknowledge Aster in any shape or form; he basically treated her like she wasn’t there at all, which she did not mind in the slightest.

Her and Severus’ relationship had gotten better over the last couple of days while she was in detention, grading some of her peers’ essays, as she knew almost as much as her godfather by now. It was now Thursday, and she had finally gotten hands on her potion she had made the previous week, for her prank to the Weasley twins. Severus had blissfully ignored her when she bottled said potion for which she was grateful, as she didn’t know what excuse she would have to brew that kind of potion.

Her mood had drastically changed over the past week too. She mostly kept to herself, but by Friday, Blaise, Theodore and Daphne apparently had enough of her brooding and cornered her in the library where she had spent most of her days outside classes and detention, working on homework and additional reading.

Aster didn’t look up when she felt them near her, not even when her friends were blocking the sunlight shining on her books, she just kept reading calmly without acknowledging the three Slytherins who were standing behind her – that was, she ignored them until Blaise cleared his throat so loudly, that Madam Pince had to shush him. With a deep sigh Aster motioned her friends to sit down, all while continuing to read her book on Potions for her essay, not that she’d needed the information, she just wanted to make sure she remembered all of it correctly.

As soon as her friends sat down, Aster lifted her head and looked at them with her bright green eyes. All of them flinched looking at her cold look and tense lips. “Look, Aster”, Daphne began but was shifting uncomfortably in her chair as Aster’s eyes focused on her. Theodore sighed which brought her focus on him, “We know that, what Draco has said wasn’t right, and that how Harry got into the Quidditch team was pretty unfair, but … well, we don’t really understand why you’re so worked up about that? I mean, we’re all pretty pissed at McGonagall, but it’s not like we can do anything about it, and we definitely don’t take it to heart as you do. We gave you space, in hopes you would return back to normal, but … it’s been a week, Aster, and we miss you. What’s going on? You know you can talk to us.”

There was a short moment of silence where Aster contemplated if she could trust her friends enough to tell them the truth. Severus had told her to keep her heritage quiet, but the more time passed, the more Aster longed to talk to someone about it, and Draco wasn’t really on top of her list, neither was Severus, with his hatred towards her father. Theodore, Blaise, and Daphne watched their friend with curious eyes, not daring to talk more, and finally, Aster’s eyes got soft and her shoulders relaxed as she shut her books and rolled up her already finished essay and put them all into her bag.

“Fine”, she finally said with a deep sigh, “but not here. Follow me.”

The four stood up and went out of the library and up the Grand Staircase onto the sixth floor to a portrait of an old wizard with black hair.

“Ah! Miss Evans, what a pleasant surprise, I haven’t seen you in a while, girl. And who have you brought with you?”, he asked her.

“Hello Professor, yes, my week was rather busy with homework, you see. That is Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass, sir. They’re my friends.”

“Ah, Nott, Zabini and Greengrass – of course, I’ve known your ancestors. I suspect you want access to my room, Miss Evans?” – “That would be lovely, Professor.” – “Alright then, in you go.”

And with that, the portrait swung aside to reveal a room that was plastered with trophies and badges, as well as some seating possibilities. The four Slytherins entered and everyone but Aster looked around with surprised eyes. “What is this place?”, Daphne asked with a hushed voice.

“It’s called the Room of Rewards. Snape has told me about it before and I managed to find it quickly. That man in the portrait is Professor Vindictus Viridian, he was a potioneer and headmaster here sometime in the 18th century. He doesn’t let anybody in here, usually you have to blackmail him, but he knew Snape and apparently he had told him about me and my potion skills, so he let me in quite quickly and I’ve been here most times when I didn’t want company. Not many people know about this room, so we’re safe here,” Aster explained to her awestruck friends.

“That’s amazing,” Blaise whispered and the other two nodded eagerly. “Do you know any other secret rooms?”

Aster shook her head, “Some, but other students know about them too, so it doesn’t matter.”

The four sat down at two of the benches in the room and it soon got quiet again, while Aster contemplated how to tell them.

“What I’m about to tell you – you mustn’t tell _anyone_ , do you understand?” Theodore, Daphne, and Blaise looked at each other unsurely without giving Aster an answer, so she pressed on, “ _Do you understand_?” This time, all three of them gave the redhead a nod as an answer, a nod that she returned. “Good … good.”

Aster took a deep breath before starting, “This … well … uhm …” she stuttered. “Come on it can’t be that bad, can it?”, Blaise asked half-jokingly to which Aster gave a snort as an answer. She felt more relaxed after Blaise’s joke, for which she was immensely thankful for.

“I’m Harry Potter’s sister,” she finally told them with a calm voice and her head down.

There was a moment of silence, the Blaise snorted very loudly, “Yeah, and I’m Dumbledore’s niece, do you see the resemblance?” Aster glowered at him while Daphne and Theodore sniggered.

“If I were you, Blaise, I would stop being such a twat or you will be cursed by our lovely redhead in here,” Daphne smirked and raised an eyebrow to the tall boy, but Blaise just stuck out his tongue.

Blaise and Daphne continued bickering, but Theo watched his best friend carefully. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”, he murmured and she nodded. “I wish I wasn’t, trust me, I do, but I truly am a Potter. I’ve seen pictures – I look exactly like my mother.”

“W-what?” Daphne stared at her with wide eyes, and a quick look to the others told her they had the same look on their faces as her best friend. “So, you were serious? But … your name? It’s …” – “Not Potter? Yeah, Dumbledore didn’t want anyone to know. Wanted me to grow up outside the fame the name Potter brought with it. My mother … Lily Potter … her maiden name was Evans. She was a muggle born,” Aster explained and at the word the three friends’ eyes got even bigger.

“So you’re a …” – “Half-blood, yes. Why, does that change anything?” Aster asked seething after her three friends exchanged looks yet again. Hearing her tone, the three snapped their heads back to her and shook them furiously. “Of course not, Aster, you’re my best friend, I’d die for you,” Theodore clapped back equally as seething, but Aster only rolled her eyes, “There’s no need to be so dramatic, Theodore.” Said boy just rolled his eyes in return, “It’s just the truth.”

“Yes, and you’re our friend too, Aster! What would we do without you anyway? You’re basically the backbone of our group, and I would fail Potions for sure if it weren’t for you!” Daphne cried out. “As if Snape would let you fail, Daphne,” Aster snorted and then sighed.

“But I get what you mean. Harry doesn’t know yet and I intend to keep it that way for some time now too. So, I would ask all of you to not tell anybody my relation to Harry, ok?”

All three of them nodded with serious expressions and Aster gave them a tight lipped smile in return.

̴

Weeks have gone by where nothing spectacular happened, except for Harry getting a Nimbus 2000, Aster did her three days of detention over the weekend, so she was as free after classes as her friends – but she had her hands full with her planning the prank on the Weasley twins.

It was about ten days before Halloween and she would finally set her plan into motion. She had learned from the House-Elves that the twins liked to come at around 10 pm to grab some food so she decided on day at night to help the house elves prepare some food.

They were extremely happy for Aster to come and visit as not many students did, so they were very willing to let her fill some pumpkin juices (which she added a little extra to) and some sandwiches. When she was finished she went to a cute house-elf with the name of Nala, a bright female elf that seemed very fond of Aster.

“Excuse me, Ms. Nala…,” she started with a shy voice. “Oooh, Missus need not call Nala Missus, Missus,” cried Nala with wide eyes staring up to Aster, who chuckled slightly.

“Could you do me a favour, Nala?” – the house-elf nodded eagerly – “Ok, you see … well this is a little bit embarrassing, but I really like Fred Weasley…,” Aster trailed off, wearing a dreamy look on her face. Nala squealed.

“But you mustn’t tell anyone, Nala!”, she exclaimed with a quivering voice, eyes darting from one side of the room to another, in fear somebody would be listening, though every house-elf seemed to be busy cleaning the plates from dinner.

“Of course not, Missus Aster, of course not!” – “Thank you, Nala. Well, I was wondering if … well I made those sandwiches and pumpkin juice, could you … could you give them to Fred and his brother when they come by? I don’t want them to know it was me, because it could be a bit embarrassing, but … I kind of want them to know, too? If you get my dilemma?” Aster asked, blushing furiously, hiding her face under her long, red hear, peaking out of some strands of hair.

“Yes, Missus, of course, Missus! Nala will give Mr. Fred and Mr. George the food, Missus! Nala will not tell them it is from Missus!” – “Thank you so much, Nala. Can I repay you the favour in any way?”

But Nala just shook her head furiously and ushered Aster out of the kitchen, claiming the Weasley twins would be arriving shortly.

As soon as Aster walked through the portrait into the Hufflepuff corridor, she dropped her act, and smirking slightly she made her way back to the common room, finished her homework and went to bed sometime later. She was very curious how the twins would react, but sadly she couldn’t see the reaction first hand. Aster quickly fell asleep to the thought of the twins drinking the pumpkin juice.

̴

It was precisely 10 pm that cool October night when Fred and George Weasley stepped into the Hufflepuff corridor, on a mission to walk to the kitchens without being detected by anyone. Of course, the twins have never been found as of yet, but that didn’t mean they became careless.

They found the kitchens soon after starting at Hogwarts a couple of years back and have been known to visit the house-elves and taking advantage of their good nature and friendliness. That was also the case that night.

As soon as they stepped into the kitchens, they were greeted by a chorus of Hellos, and a small house-elf by the name of Nala came running to them.

“Mr. Fred, Mr. George! Nala has already prepared your sirs foods, sirs!” she exclaimed, holing out a basket full of sandwiches, butterbeer and cakes.

“Thank you, Nala!”, the twins said in unison and walked back out of the kitchens again. “That was quick, Georgie, wasn’t it?” – “Indeed, it was, Freddie boy, indeed, it was. Though we do come here every night at the same time, don’t we?” – “Indeed, we do.”

Sniggering to themselves, the boys made their way up to Gryffindor tower. “Pig snout,” they said again in unison, and the Fat Lady sighed exasperatedly, “You boys never do learn, do you? You will get caught someday, I promise you that.”

After getting into the warm and cosy common room, the boys sat down on the sofa in front of the fire place – the room was almost deserted, with just some older students talking, and they were used to Fred and George’s late night adventures by now, so they didn’t comment on it.

Sighing simultaneously, they bit into their sandwiches, grinning to each other in the small celebration of another successful day of pranking Slytherins or Filch.

But as soon as they took a sip of their butterbeer, they turned a slight purply shade and started babbling nonsense. The older students looked at them curiously, but soon began to laugh.

Fred and George were looking at each other when suddenly, they both stopped babbling. Only to say a sentence, taking turns with each word.

“You” – “think” – “you” – “can” – “prank” – “me?”, they said with round eyes darting around.

“HA!”, Fred shouted suddenly which woke more students who came out of their dormitories to look what was going on, only to start laughing too.

“Beware” – “of” – “the” – “flower” – “of” – “stars” – “and” – “take” – “heed” – “of” – “the” – “snake’s” – “venom”

And suddenly the boys started laughing manically, not being able to stop. Only when Hermione came back with Madam Pomfrey, who gave them an antidote, they were able to stop laughing. Breathing heavily the boys looked at each other in surprise.

The twins as well as the other students slowly went back to their dormitories, still laughing slightly and soon, Gryffindor tower was as silent as the rest of the castle.

̴

Aster awoke with a new sense of excitement the next day. She met her friends in the common room, walking down with Daphne and Tracey, smirking very prominently which caused a heap of raised eyebrows by her friends.

“What has made you so happy there, Evans?”, Blaise asked curiously. “Oh; nothing, Zabini, I just had a good nights sleep.” – “Sure, you had.”

They walked to the Great Hall together and sat down. Aster was slightly disappointed that she didn’t see the twins yet, but still helped herself to a serving of coffee and toast with jam.

“Well, well, well – if it isn’t our favourite Slytherin,” she suddenly heard behind her back and turned around smirking.

“I have no idea what you two are talking about,” she told them with a faux innocent expression. “Ts, Ts, Evans. Flower of stars? Snake’s venom? That could only be one person in this school, can it?”, one of the twins – Aster never really knew which one was which – stated with a smirk.

“Oh, no! You have caught me – and I thought my plan was foolproof!”, Aster exclaimed theatrically but soon dropped the act. “Did you like my little show I had planned for you?”

“Oh yes, it was very funny,” the other twin replied drily. “But you know what that means, right?”

“Revenge”, both said simultaneously.

Aster rolled her eyes, “I’m terrified. Now can I please go back and finish my toast?” She turned around, not giving the twins time to answer and calmly continued to eat her breakfast and just a couple of seconds later she saw the twins on their way to the Gryffindor table, who was sniggering looking at them, talking to each other in hushed voices, occasionally looking – not so subtly either – to Aster.

Finishing her meal in a rather good mood, she made her way to her first lesson of the day.

̴

It was the Monday before Halloween and Aster’s mood was back to being irritable and savage all the time. She and Draco would fight all the time, as he had yet to apologise for his behaviour the other day, and him being sulky for her not apologising. As if she would make the first step when he was the one to start it all.

Their fights grew so badly that even Snape had intervened and told them to either make up or ignore each other otherwise he would have to take points from them or put them into detention, so they opted to ignore each other much to their mutual friend’s dismay.

Aster had ignored Draco all day long, but she couldn’t avoid him at night-time, not when she wanted to sit in the common room with her friends.

So that particular evening, she sat with her friends, reading in a book about ancient potions, only replying occasionally.

And Malfoy was complaining about “Saint Potter” once again, loudly voicing his unnecessary opinion on the boy until Aster snapped her book shut, looking up with a frustrated sigh.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than insulting Harry, where he can’t even hear you?”, she asked with an annoyed expression.

“Can you not comment on everything that I do?”, he countered.

“Oh I would, if it wouldn’t annoy me so much to hear you talking about the same topic every damned day, so either you find a new topic to complain about, as you like to do that so much, or I would suggest you shut the bloody hell up!”, she snapped.

“Why do you care so much about Potter anyway? He’s a Gryffindor, a piece of muggle loving scum, so why do you care?”, Pansy defended Malfoy before he could say anything else, but Aster only scoffed in return.

“You might like Draco’s voice so much you want to hear him talking about anything just to hear him talk, but I, Pansy, like to not waste my time with things that I can’t change. And that includes complaining about Harry, so I don’t need to hear Draco talking about him every time he gets, too. Heaven forbid the whole school talks about him every chance they get as well,” Aster seethed. She looked at Draco, who seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face, being quiet for once.

“Well, it seems there won’t be any worthwhile discussion tonight, so I’m going to bed. Good night.”

And with that, Aster went upstairs to bed. She fell asleep almost immediately.

̴

On Halloween day, Aster awoke with a jolt. Apparently she had overslept, so she sprinted out of bed into the bathrooms, cursing her roommates to not wake her, but she understood that she hadn’t been the most approachable person the last couple of days.

Deciding she wouldn’t be able to make it to breakfast anyways, she immediately went to her first class, which was Charms. But on her way to the room, she found it odd that a lot of people were looking her way, either supposedly secretly or openly staring, whispering. Aster knew it was odd for a Slytherin to look so dishevelled and being late, but she didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

But before she could reach the classroom, her arm was snatched, and she was dragged to a side corridor where she came face to face with Harry Potter himself.

“Hey,” she said breathlessly, “I don’t have a lot of time, I have to go to Charms, don’t you have that class as well?” she stopped when she saw Harry’s look, “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked almost in a whisper, looking to the floor instead of her, his hand still on her arm.

“Tell you what, Harry? Look, I really don’t have time right-“ – “Is it true, then? That you’re my sister?”

And in that moment, Aster Evans forgot to breathe.


	8. Phantom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Long time no see!
> 
> I'm very sorry that I haven't been updating, I've got a new job and uni is starting soon so I've been very busy, but I'm trying to write too, that's why I'm a bit slow.
> 
> Please don't forget to leave some comments, I'd love to hear back from you! If you have any suggestions regarding the story (I'm currently at writing the Halloween scene in COS) you can always write to me personally too! Otherwise, just any kind of feedback would be very much appreciated, thank you :)
> 
> Song of the chapter: Phantom by Jessie Paege

_“I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.”_

**― Veronica Roth, Insurgent**

“Is it true, then? That you’re my sister?”

Aster Evans resembled a fish in that moment, opening and closing her mouth several times, at loss for words. She had paled significantly; her eyes were open wide. Her breathing quickened to a point where she thought if she’d breathe any faster, she would collapse of too much air – not that it mattered, she already felt like she would collapse any moment. But she didn’t; instead, she had to face her brother’s stony look, staring at her with the same eyes she had.

She licked her lips nervously, shifting from side to side, not being able to meet Harry’s eyes. They were silent for a moment, Aster’s heart beating so loudly, she was sure the boy opposite her could hear it.

Then – he scoffed. “I guess your silence means yes?”

Aster coughed in response, “Let’s talk after class, shall we?” Harry nodded, and attempted to finally go to class, after they had already missed at least 5 minutes, but Aster caught his arm. “Just … who told you?”

“Well I have it from Seamus, he said he got it from Dean, who said he heard it from Fred – or George? – who said they got it from Angelina, who said she overheard some Slytherin, who said he got it from Malfoy. And that’s where the line ends I guess. Why did he know, and I didn’t?” Harry asked in an accusatory voice that made Aster flinch and look away.

“Let’s just talk after class, okay? How does lunch sound?” – “Fine.”

They nodded to each other and walked to the classroom in silence. As soon as they opened the door and walked in together, the whispers started again, but Aster didn’t notice them, she was watching Draco who looked at her triumphantly.

“Now, quiet please! I am very disappointed in you two, Miss Evans and Mister Potter – 10 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor, and if that happens again, you will have detention. Let’s continue with the Levitation Charm, and remember, it’s a swish and flick with your wand, repeat after me, …” Professor Flitwick continued his class.

Quietly scoffing, she sat next to Theodore, who coincidentally sat farthest away from Draco, took out her wand and books, and made the requested motion with her wand.

̴

She didn’t get a chance to talk to Draco about his betrayal of telling literally _everyone_ , but she wasn’t too concerned about that as he couldn’t avoid her forever.

She was, however, getting more nervous as lunch drew closer. She was glad she told her friends beforehand about her relation to Harry, as it probably would have been disastrous if they would know the secret from everyone but her.

So, her three friends were the only ones in the whole school, aside from her teachers, who treated her no differently and weren’t seen gawking or whispering about her. But Aster took the unwelcome news with a dismissive manner, as it was never her concern how the school would react, but more about how Harry would react.

It was at lunch that she found out he didn’t take it all too well. They were in an abandoned classroom and once again, the silence was deafening.

“I didn’t want to believe it at first,” Harry admitted, “but then I asked McGonagall, and she confirmed it…”

Aster swallowed hard, and nodded, biting her lower lip in concentration.

“Yes,” she slowly started, “you’re my brother. Lily … our mother, I was told I look exactly like her”

This time it was Harry’s turn to nod. He cleared his throat loudly, looking at the floor. Aster looked at him uncertainly.

“Are … you disappointed?”

Harry’s head snapped up to her and looked at her questioningly.

“You know … because I’m a Slytherin?”

He shook his head, although hesitantly.

“No … I guess. I mean, before Ron told me about the houses, I didn’t even know about them and I don’t really know you, we haven’t really been talking except for a couple of times in school and in the train … was that the reason you came to our compartment?” he asked, just realising her behaviour in the train had a higher motive and she nodded in confirmation.

“Yes … I was told not to tell anyone our relation, but I still wanted to get to know you.”

Harry exhaled loudly. “Why did Malfoy know it before me? Did you tell him?”

Biting her lip once again, Aster shook her head. “No, his parents told him.”

“But … I mean no one recognised you as a Potter, but a lot of people knew our parents and me, why did they not know about you?”

“Other than you, I didn’t survive the Killing Curse, well, before You-Know-Who even got to kill me, he vanished after you survived. And even before that, not many people knew of us both, of course, everyone knew of you by then, but Dumbledore made sure no one knew the second Potter child. He wanted me to grow up as normal as possible; he knew things would change drastically as soon as word got out that you have a sister who also survived the night, just not as drastically as you did.

“So, I grew up as a normal magical child with Snape. I mean, I spent most of my time with the Malfoys but … still, he’s the only family I’ve had until now.”

Aster released a long breath, somewhat relieved the secret was out now. Even though she knew that a lot of things would change now, the secret was still a burden, and she was glad she didn’t have to bear it anymore.

“What are we going to do now?” Harry asked quietly.

Aster raised one of her brows. “Well … I guess we could get to know each other more, but I don’t know.”

Harry nodded and cleared his throat again. “Well … Uhm, I got to go back to lunch, Ron was waiting for me.”

Aster nodded and without another word they left the classroom and went to the Great Hall separately.

̴

It was after classes and Aster finally found Draco. “We need to talk,” she said with an icy voice. “ _Now,_ ” she continued after seeing Draco looking for an excuse to get out of this situation.

She took him by his arm and dragged him to another abandoned classroom, where she locked the door from the inside before turning around glaring at Draco.

“Did you do it?” – “Did I do what?”

“Don’t mess with me, Draco. Was it you who everyone about Harry and me?”

Draco, who had been staring at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing he’d ever seen, finally looked up and met her cold glare.

The unsettled boy’s demeanour changed drastically, as his arrogant front, that she had seen develop over the years, surfaced once more, a smirk replacing his frown and his eyes transforming from a dull grey to the colour of stormy clouds, however, he couldn’t deceive her – she saw uneasiness in his stormy grey eyes and somehow felt satisfaction out of that, as if he was afraid of her and her reaction; seeing that, she felt powerful – and that disturbed her somehow.

“So what if I did?”, he asked, swaggering to her.

Aster’s green eyes darkened as they followed his movement, and the frown on her lips became more prominent the more she pressed them together. She was livid, her breathing quickening again, this time out of anger.

“ _How dare you_ ,” she seethed. “This, out of all the things you’ve done, is by far the worst. This wasn’t your secret to tell. I _trusted_ you and you _betrayed_ me.” By the end of her small speech, she had tears in her eyes of anger and betrayal, her lips were trembling, and her hands were shaking.

She shook her head in disappointment, her hands furiously wiping away the few tears that have escaped her eyes.

Draco looked seriously taken aback by her outburst. He had not expected that reaction and couldn’t understand it either. Why did it matter to her if he told them? Why was it so important to her to keep this secret?

But he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to anger her further. His silence made her scoff and she turned around ready to leave. After performing Alohomora on the door to open it she stopped for a short moment and looked at the boy she had known for so long.

“Slytherin’s are supposed to have each other’s backs, remember? _Family_ is supposed to protect each other. You showed today that I cannot trust you in the slightest, and I don’t want to have anything to do with a person I can’t trust,” she whispered one last time before opening the door, walking away quickly, her head, for once, cast downwards.

~

It was just moments before the Halloween feast began and Aster was on her way to the bathrooms. She had been stopped by a lot of students, some of them brave enough to ask the burning question that haunted the Hogwarts castle that day. She was getting quite annoyed with everyone, so when she heard a voice call out her name, she turned around and bellowed, “WHAT?”

Her anger and frustration was visible on every hard line gracing her face, but that didn’t stop the Weasley twins to continue walking towards her. She had somewhat befriended the pair over the past week, with both being incredibly impressed at her potion skills, after experiencing them first hand through her prank and her being able to forget her worries when being with them. Plus, they weren’t really that bad – for Gryffindors, anyway.

“Are you okay?”, Fred asked her – she could finally distinguish the pair.

Her tense shoulders sacked, and she let out a long breath, before leaning her back to the stone wall on one side of the corridor.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled, averting her eyes. She suddenly felt one arm on either side of her shoulders, looking up she saw the twins had joined her leaning against the wall, one twin on either side, with their arms draped over her shoulders.

“You can’t deceive us – the masters of lying and disguising,” George commented with a grin, Aster responding with a weak smile.

“It really is fine, boys. I just had to sort some things out.” – “Ah, yes, the famous sorting out lie; very popular with people who don’t like to talk about their feelings”, Fred remarked cheekily, and Aster shoved him aside with her elbow, laughing.

“There it is, the infamous Aster Evans laugh,” the boys high-fived over her head and Aster was secretly grateful they didn’t comment on her heritage, still using her mother’s maiden name. She had stopped counting how many people called her Potter that day – it really was unnerving as she wasn’t used being called that, and she wasn’t sure she liked it – she wasn’t sure she identified as one of the glorious Potters too. She also wanted to be her own person, to make her own achievements, not being boosted by a famous name. She liked just having her small group of friends, otherwise being practically invisible to the greater student body with a few exceptions, of course.

She thought she didn’t mind everyone knowing, and talking, whispering, or straight up requesting her to talk – but secretly, she did mind.

All of a sudden, random people from all houses thought they could talk to her, just because she was Harry Potter’s twin sister, not thinking she wouldn’t forget the loathing looks they gave her just the previous day for being a Slytherin. She didn’t forget.

So, on this particular evening, ten years after her parents were brutally murdered, Aster Evans got the reputation of the cold Slytherin girl you did not want to mess with – and Aster quite liked that status. Of course, there were people that did not acknowledge that status in any way, most of them being Gryffindors, and that was the case with the twins, but she didn’t mind them at all, as they still treated her the same.

“Have you heard though, Georgie? Our Aster is now Slytherin’s ice queen,” Fred exclaimed, and Aster snorted at the name. Knowing the twins, they would make fun of her because of the title for the rest of their lives.

Aster pushed herself from the wall, smirking slightly at the twins, her old sass being back. “Well, if I’m the ice queen, you guys could be my court fools”

Fred and George looked at her with offended faces, then each other, before bursting out laughing. Glad for the distraction, she turned and yelled a passing bye at the twins, lazily raising an arm before turning around the corner.

What the twins couldn’t see was a small, but genuine smile forming on Aster’s face. Maybe not every Gryffindor was as prejudiced and dumb out of bravery as she had thought. Harry and the twins certainly proved there was always an exception to the rule.

~

Finally arriving at the girl’s bathroom, she opened the door, just to hear someone crying.

Aster let out a small huff, she did not want to deal with this right now. Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed her red hair, green eyes, her fair skin, and she had even developed some freckles over the summer. She noticed how her eyes stood out with the green of her robes, but she also noticed how cold and distant they looked. Had they always been that way? Had she always been cold, ruthless, and sarcastic? Aster couldn’t remember herself being any other way.

The girl did not stop crying, even though Aster had made it very obvious that there was another person in the room, so, with an annoyed sigh, Aster turned around and – leaning on the sink behind her, said: “Could you maybe cry a little bit more quietly? I’m trying to have a moment here,” but the girl continued wailing – somehow even louder than before.

Aster sighed again – she did that a lot lately – pushed herself from the sink and walked to the stall where she heard the crying coming from.

She knocked softly on the door.

“Hey, did you hear me?” When she got no response, she continued, “Look. Whatever happened, you can’t change it anymore, it’s in the past, you just have to accept it, keep your head high and continue with your life. It may sound harsh, but what else can you do? You have got to keep going, and you’ll show them of what you’re made of. You’ll show them how to succeed, because that’s what we girls are destined to do. We will succeed in whatever we want, and do you want to know why? Because we _can_. So, get up from the seat, wipe away your tears and-“

But Aster couldn’t finish her sentence as there was a loud bang outside the door, that suddenly burst open – there was a huge troll in the doorway, staring directly at Aster.

_Oh, you’ve_ got _to be kidding me_ , she thought to herself, before slowly backing away from the stall door hoping with all her might the girl would not open it.

But of course, her prayers were unanswered, as the girl – who turned out to be bushy haired, Miss Know-It-All Hermione Granger – opened the door and let out a shriek that turned the troll’s attention to herself and away from Aster.

Hermione smashed the stall door close, but it was too late – the troll raised his huge arm that was holding some kind of bat and swung it towards the stalls. “HERMIONE, DUCK!” Aster screamed and hoped it was enough.

The half-broken door opened, and Hermione crawled out of it with tear struck eyes. Aster held out her hand for the Gryffindor girl to take it and as soon as they held hands, Aster shoved the girl behind herself against the wall, looking defiantly to the troll.

_There must be something I can do_ , Aster thought while frantically thinking of a spell that would distract the troll, but there was no need as her brother and his best friend burst through the door stopping in their tracks when seeing the troll.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? GET OUT!” Aster screamed again but nobody listened to her, which caused her to groan out loud.

“Confuse it!” Harry shouted to Ron; as soon as he said that, Aster pointed her want to the other side of the room away from her and Hermione as well as away from her brother and Ron.

“ _Confringo_!” she shouted and the toilet farthest from them exploded which turned the troll’s focus away from them all.

“Come on, run, run!” Harry shouted to them both but Hermione was frozen in her spot and Aster was trapped between the sinks and the wall – and as much as she didn’t like the girl, Aster wouldn’t abandon Hermione.

Suddenly Harry jumped off the ground onto the troll’s back and – stuck his wand into the troll’s nose. The troll roared with pain, trying to get Harry from his back.

Ron and Aster seemed to think the same thing, as they both performed the levitation charm which caused the troll’s club to spin over his head and then crash upon him. The troll went down with a loud bang and then everything was silent except for the children’s heavy breathing.

Hermione crawled forward, finally being able to unfreeze her body. “Is it… dead?”

“I don’t think so…” Harry murmured, wiping his wand against his robes – Aster winced.

A moment later, all the Professors came bursting into the bathroom, but Aster barely registered what was being said, she just looked into Severus’ eyes and was surprised to see them filled with worry – though she suspected only she could see that, knowing him for that long.

She hardly heard that she had gained five house points and walked numbly out of the bathroom downstairs to the dungeons.

She felt numb, this was the first time she had ever been in grave danger and she wondered what would have happened if Harry and Ron hadn’t come to their rescue.

Before stepping down the stairs to her common room, she looked over her shoulder to see the trio talking animatedly to each other walking upstairs to their common room. Aster sighed and ascended to the dungeons alone.

~

The days quickly became weeks and before Aster even realised it, it was December, and she only had one more week of school before it was Christmas break. Usually, she would spend Christmas with the Malfoys, as Snape wasn’t exactly what you would call a festive person.

Aster liked it with the Malfoys well enough, but after Draco’s disloyalty, she wasn’t really too keen on going to them, so she asked Theodore if she could spend Christmas with his family instead.

He got the letter of approval a couple of days later from his mother, so Aster told Severus the change of plan, which he accepted wordlessly.

Her and Draco’s relationship was icy, basically. Draco still refused to acknowledge any of his doings were wrong, and therefore didn’t apologise – so Aster basically ignored him. On the other hand, her relationship with Harry seemed to be stronger than ever.

There were times where just the two of them hung out in some corridor or classroom and just talked about everything. While Harry was extremely interested in how it was to be living with Snape (he still hadn’t let go of the idea that Snape worked for You-Know-Who to Aster’s greatest annoyance), she was curious about their Muggle relatives.

Harry said they weren’t worth talking about, but Aster thought otherwise. She insisted on visiting him at Privet Drive in the summer break to officially introduce herself to her Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin Harry seemed to hate so much. Though Harry seemed to hate a lot of people that showed no interest in him.

Harry was still prejudiced against her, mainly for the fact that she was a Slytherin, but he seemed to warm up to her just fine.

So, when their Christmas break rolled around, Aster was confident she would have a great relationship with her brother before the school year was over.

And, as usual, she would be right. 

~

The year had passed by so fast; Aster was quite surprised when she finished her last exams and would soon be boarding the train to go home to Severus, who would use the Floo Network.

When she boarded the train with her usual friends, she looked for a compartment for themselves in the Slytherin sector, so while Theodore, Blaise and Daphne opted for sitting with Draco and his goons, Aster sat with Marcus Flint, Miles Bletchley, Cassius Warrington and Graham Montague. There were no girls in the compartment, but as she knew most of the boys since she was young and often played Quidditch with them, she was welcome anyway.

As all of them were older than her, Marcus being the oldest at 15, all except for Marcus treated her like a little sister. For some reason Marcus couldn’t stand her since they had met years ago, but he was respectful enough as she was a fellow Slytherin and his friends seemed to like her well enough. But despite him being polite, there was always this air of competitiveness and distance between them which resulted in either them spitefully exchanging mild insults when their common friends were around, or them throwing glares at each other, refusing to back down. Either way was fine enough but he was Quidditch captain now, and she didn’t know if he would let her play or not.

“Will we be playing together again this summer?”, Miles asked, but Aster shook her head.

“No, I won’t be staying at the Malfoys this year. I promised Harry I would visit him, and Daphne’s parents offered me to accompany them to France to visit some relatives. Plus, if you haven’t noticed; Draco and I aren’t really on the best of terms,” Aster replied a little coldly, but pleasantly, nonetheless and the boys nodded.

“That’s a shame really. I wanted to train you a little bit, I figured you’d want to try out for Chaser next year. Ainsworth completed his final year at Hogwarts, so we’re one Chaser short, but sure, if you don’t want that position…” Marcus drawled, and Aster just flicked him off, as she knew that he would rather never play again than to train her. He grinned wickedly.

The conversation seemed to be over as Cassius started talking about some girl in their year he fancied and Aster wasn’t interested at all, so she picked up a copy of a Potions book and settled down to read it for the rest of the train ride.

She was smiling slightly, pleased with herself how well she did that past year; and even though she had always loved summer, she could not help but wonder what her second year would have in store for her and her friends. After all, she was a witch – and being magical was never boring.


	9. Renegades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I'm so sorry for kind of abandoning this story for a while. Uni has started again and I've been super busy but once in a while I get an email from ao3 that someone has left kudos for this story, reminding me to update it haha
> 
> no, in all seriousness, I'm glad that there are still people finding and enjoying my story, and even if it may take longer for the next couple of months to update, I won't forget it :)
> 
> thank you for sticking with Aster :)
> 
> Song for this chapter: Renegades by X Ambassadors

_“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”_

**– Unknown**

~

The next time Aster saw her brother was inside Flourish and Blotts. When Draco, Lucius and Aster arrived at the book store they could see the line going outside, which was full of witches of all ages, talking excitedly to one another.

Scoffing slightly, Aster followed Lucius into the store – him being in such a high position at the ministry, as well as being a Malfoy, the women stepped aside very quickly which Aster commented silently with a sly smirk. It did have its advantages being friends with a family so powerful as the Malfoys were.

Once they were inside the store, Aster could see why all those women were so excited to come to the shop – Gilderoy Lockhart himself was sitting at a table, signing some books while talking animatedly at the witch in front of him as well as the photographer from the Daily Prophet who didn’t miss any smile the wizard gave to the crowd of his admirers.

Rolling her eyes, Aster made her way to one of the employees who were standing around, looking annoyed by all the commotion that was going on with Lockhart’s arrival. It didn’t take long for the small woman to gather all of Aster’s and Draco’s books, but before they could pay, a loud voice so loud even Aster could hear it one floor up, boomed across the store.

“It can’t be Harry Potter?” Lockhart shouted ecstatically at someone Aster couldn’t see, but for obvious reasons she knew it had to be her brother. The crowd burst into applause as Lockhart seized Harry’s arm and looked directly to the photographer for a picture while shaking his hand.

To Aster’s disdain, he also spotted her on the balcony looking down at him with raised eyebrows.

“And is that … isn’t that your sister, Harry? Is it Aster Potter? Of course, I’ve heard all about the rumours going around!” Harry nodded with a red face, avoiding to look Aster in the eyes.

“Well, don’t be shy, come down here, love! Surely you’d want a picture with me, don’t you?” Lockhart smiled up to her, displaying his abnormally white teeth. A smile formed slowly on Aster’s face as she made her way down the stairs, gradually, feeling seemingly every eye following her moves before coming to a halt a couple of feet in front of Lockhart.

Just out of his reach, she smirked. He beamed back at her, but his smile faltered when she replied in a sweet voice, “No, I don’t think so.”

She turned around, looking at a stunned Weasley family plus Hermione and winked at Fred and George who were smiling broadly.

She heard gasps all around her, some women muttering not so friendly words, but Aster couldn’t care less. She didn’t like Lockhart’s vibe and she was getting quite annoyed with his behaviour too.

Gilderoy Lockhart, to his credit, recovered pretty quickly, basically hugging Harry and after a couple of unnecessary sentences and a bit of applauding, he revealed he would be joining the staff at Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Staying downstairs, she waited until Draco and Lucius had re-joined her, but not really being in this world, as her thoughts strayed away, her remembering the past year.

So much had happened since she got her first Hogwarts letter. She found out about her true heritage – being a Potter child did bring its perks, but you also had to pay a price, which she found out sooner than she would have liked to.

While she was grateful her friends didn’t treat her any differently, she was still being scrutinized by the whole school. Every step she took, every word she spoke – it was all being watched, and she wasn’t sure how to behave anymore.

She had been taught to be tough, not to show her feelings except to those she trusted the most, as feelings were a weakness that could be used against her. Aster was confused, as people didn’t seem to care about any of the walls she had put up her whole life. They penetrated her castle without asking and treated her a way she wasn’t used to – without respect.

So, all she could do – all she ever learned, really – was to put those walls up higher and stronger. She hid out in her castle, watching from the inside what was going on in the outside world, without really getting involved. And it was _so_ exhausting to pretend you didn’t care when all you wanted to do was cry.

So now, coming to her senses again when a fight broke out between Mr. Weasley and Lucius, she just stood there, observing, thinking how she could do better if it ever came to such a situation, but came to no conclusion. She only knew one thing.

No one would overpower her – she’d win the battles she didn’t yet know she fought, even if she would die trying.

~

She sat at the Slytherin house table on September 1st with all of her friends, and yet again, she felt eyes on her of those who didn’t know her – who thought she was as approachable as her brother. She met those stares with cold eyes.

Normally, being back at Hogwarts would bring her joy, but this time it didn’t. Not anymore. Now it was a hollow castle with too many eyes and mouths to ignore.

Walking to the Slytherin common room with Daphne, Blaise, and Theodore, her brother and Ron came towards them, looking dishevelled, tired but also relieved. She nodded to her brother but refrained herself to asking where they had been.

She hadn’t realised then that she didn’t even notice they weren’t at the beginning of term feast.

~

The talk of school was the Howler Ron Weasley received over breakfast from his parents. It was amusing – to say the least.

Severus had caught her up to what happened to her brother and his best friend, furious with how Professor McGonagall handled the situation; if he had been their head of house they would’ve been expelled, Potter or not, though Aster knew that he only reacted that viciously because Harry was James’ son – she knew, if it had been her, Severus wouldn’t bat an eye to give her two years’ worth of detention, but he’d never expel her.

So, when Ron got his Howler, Aster looked instinctively to Severus, seeing him smirking ever so slightly watching the scene unfold.

Sighing quietly to herself, Aster opened one of her books to read during breakfast – but she couldn’t really concentrate, as Mrs. Weasley’s voice boomed over the Great Hall so loudly, that even Aster got embarrassed, and it hadn’t even been her fault in the first place.

Snapping her book close, she got up and walked out of the hall without acknowledging anyone, too consumed with her newly formed headache to care. She almost ran into a very distraught looking Ginny Weasley; giving the youngest Weasley a scowl that could only compete with Snape or Draco, Aster moved out the way to her first class of this term.

~

Aster had to give Colin Creevey credit for his bravery as he cornered her right before lunch, as she wasn’t the most approachable person in the castle on a regular day, and since her secret had come out, she was even more unpredictable than usual, especially in front of strangers.

So, to see that scrawny first year come up to her and her friends, asking for a picture, released something in Aster that she didn’t know even existed in her anymore; compassion. Therefore, she allowed him to take a picture of her, but when he asked her to sign it, she declined.

She didn’t smile while he took the picture with a camera, but she didn’t scowl either, stood regally and flipped her hair backwards for Colin to get another side if he wanted. Even though she grew up in homes of people who didn’t lack any money, she wasn’t used to cameras at all, as Severus didn’t really want any and the Malfoy’s preferred paintings, so this was a little bit awkward for Aster, but she thought she handled it pretty well. After a couple of moments, the small photoshoot was over and Colin ran away smiling so brightly, one would think he just met Merlin himself.

Aster heard her friends snickering behind her back, and throwing a glare over her shoulder to them she said, “At least my beauty is captured – you can take pictures, you just need to look good in them” and with a raised eyebrow and a half smile she stalked into the Great Hall, leaving her friends roaring with laughter.

~

She should have known better.

Of course, Colin only wanted that picture because she was Harry Potter’s sister, not because of her. Grinding her teeth and clenching her fists, she looked at the scene in front of her, where Harry stood uncomfortably next to Colin who was pestering for an autograph.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to her right and saw that Draco had walked up to them, his hand giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze, and although she appreciated his gesture, the disappointment still lingered heavily in her stomach.

Draco spoke up, but Aster hardly listened to his words, as she just looked at her brother’s embarrassed face which transformed into annoyance as soon as he heard her friend. His eyes flickered to Aster’s stony face, now also ignoring the banter between Draco and Ron, who intercepted to fight for his friend, when Professor Lockhart came into the courtyard.

Scoffing slightly, Aster turned on her heels to go to her next class before Lockhart would do anything to her that he would regret later on.

~

The same evening, Aster was on her way to her common room late, after getting lost in time in the library. Descending the stairs to the dungeons, Cedric fell into step beside her, walking silently next to her downstairs.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked, mildly annoyed.

“No, why would I?” – “I can literally feel the pity you have for me, so say what you want and let’s get it over with.”

He sighed and stopped at the edge to the corridor to the Hufflepuff common room. Leaning on the wall, he looked at her with an uncharacteristically serious face and crossed arms. Aster also stopped and looked at him with raised eyebrows expectantly.

“You don’t look well”, Cedric started – “Wow, thanks. Always lovely talking to you”, Aster replied sarcastically. Cedric scoffed, “What’s been going on with you?”

Averting her eyes, Aster said “Nothing…” but Cedric barked out a laugh, “Yeah sure, and the Minister of Magic is my brother” – “What??? Oh my god, Cedric I had _no_ idea, that must be _so_ great for you and your family!” Aster and Cedric both rolled their eyes simultaneously as they chuckled lowly before Aster let out a long sigh.

“In all honesty, though, I don’t know. I guess I’m not used to all the attention and it messes with my head. I have the feeling I’m constantly being watched, and it drives me insane.”

Clenching her fists, she suddenly felt a warm body pressed against her; her face was smashed into a strong and warm chest. “What are you doing?” Aster asked with a muffled voice. “Giving you a hug, dummy, what do you think this is? I know we haven’t been talking that much last year, but I just want you to know that you don’t have to act strong with me, okay? You can show emotions with me, I won’t judge you. You’re human too, and you’re allowed to have feelings. You don’t have to be strong all the time. If not for anyone else, you can be yourself with me. I got your back.” Cedric mumbled into her hair.

Suddenly Aster couldn’t hold it in anymore. Clutching his robes, she cried for the first time for months. She cried and she cried, and through all that, Cedric held her, never letting go for even an inch, instead squeezing her harder until Aster was shaking through the tears and sobs. He held his promise, he didn’t leave or judge her for showing her weakness and she was forever grateful he was there and was her friend.

Without being noticed by neither the Hufflepuff boy nor the crying Slytherin girl, Draco Malfoy stood in the shadows, clenching his teeth while breathing heavily. This was his fault. He told everyone the secret that wasn’t his to tell. And on this cool September evening, Draco understood why Aster was so mad at him.

He decided at this moment that he was going to make it up to her. Even if he had to threaten everyone who looked at Aster the wrong way, he was going to make sure Aster was comfortable in this school, as it was his doing that she wasn’t in the first place.

So, he made a silent promise to Aster, that he would do anything to see her smile again – a real smile, because seeing her cry into the older boy’s shoulder that moment, Draco knew that seeing her smile again would be worth all the trouble.


	10. Supermassive Black Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
> 
> (Finally this shitshow of a year is over)
> 
> Okay I am so, so sorry for not updating. Uni's been messy af with the (now third) Lockdown and I'm also about to move, it's all very stressful, so I wasn't able to continue writing, but at last I finished and here we are.
> 
> I hope you do like the chapter, it was so fun to write, please do leave a message or some kind, it would be mostly appreciated :)
> 
> Side note, has anyone seen Bridgerton? It's honestly such a guilty pleasure but I literally binged through the whole season.
> 
> Anyway, have fun with the chapter!!!
> 
> Song of the chapter: Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
> 
> (and yes, I did choose this song because of Twilight - cinematic masterpiece of a scene, don't @ me)

_"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life."_

**– Amy Poehler**

~

_Quidditch tryouts on Saturday, September 12 th, 1992_

_For anyone who wishes to apply, write your name and year on this list_

_\- Marcus Flint, Quidditch Captain_

If there was one thing that would always cheer Aster up, it was Quidditch. Ever since she was little, she and Draco had been playing and it always was some last resort to them when pureblood obligations became too much for the two children. Sometimes their friends played with them, but most of the time they were alone.

It was through the pureblood gatherings that Aster got to know Marcus Flint too. While she knew he only tolerated Draco because of his family, it was clear he absolutely despised Aster. She wasn’t really sure why, but even though she loved Quidditch, she was still debating if she would be able to play under his leadership.

“Come on, you know you want to,” a playful voice that Aster recognised as the one of Miles Bletchley sing-sang behind her. She sighed, “I know, but you know Flint…” – “I do, yes. But you’re one of us, Aster, and Marcus knows it too. And he can’t deny the brilliance that is you as a Chaser. It was almost as if you were born with it,” he winked at her as she rolled her eyes at his statement.

While she certainly looked like her mother, Lily Evans, if you were to believe Snape, the Quidditch talent came from her father. As did her temperament. And a lot of other things. So, after a moment of hesitation, Aster summoned a feather and signed her name under that of a fifth year called Lucian Bole.

“Let’s see how that’ll go,” Aster muttered to herself which only resulted in a low chuckle by Miles who heard her. Sighing dramatically, Aster flung herself on one of the couches and touched her forehead in a theatrical manner. “How will I _ever_ survive this ordeal that is Marcus Flint as Quidditch captain?” she cried.

“Not at all if you keep _that_ up,” the unmistakable voice of Flint himself boomed through the room to Aster, to which she only replied with yet another dramatical outcry. “That’s sexism, I’m going to report you to Snape!”

While it was no secret that there weren’t a lot of female Quidditch players on the Slytherin team, it was less the fact that the captains were sexist and more that the girls themselves didn’t want to get dirty. That, or their parents didn’t approve for their daughters to play such a ‘manly’ sport. But Aster didn’t care, and neither did Severus. And while Narcissa didn’t exactly approve of Aster’s choices, she also couldn’t really say anything as Aster wasn’t kin.

By this point, Aster was clutching her stomach because she was trying to contain her laughter to keep the act up, but to no avail as she soon was lying face down on the couch, crying of laughter. She didn’t even know why she thought this was so funny.

“She’s finally gone mental, hasn’t she?” Aster heard Blaise asked their friends wearily. To the laughing even came a hiccup. She looked up to her friends with a pleading look. “Help. I can’t … stop … laughing … Snape” she managed to spit out before she couldn’t talk anymore of laughing.

“Oh, by Merlin’s beard,” Daphne mumbled and dashed out of the common room, only to come back a minute later with Snape following. One look at his goddaughter made him inwardly smack her for being so careless.

After forcing an antidote down her throat, Aster was finally able to calm down and breathe properly. “What happened?” Snape asked her but she just shook her head, trying to remember where she could have gotten a laughing potion in when she remembered the glass of pumpkin juice she was drinking during lunch and the suspicious absence of two very annoying wizards. She quietly cursed to herself, “Those two, I swear I’m going to-” – “Miss Evans,” Snape’s drawling voice pointed out that she wasn’t alone.

“Sorry, Professor. I must’ve accidentally drunken some potion,” she finally admitted looking down to her shoes in quiet anger to herself.

“You of all people ought to know better. Two points from Slytherin for such carelessness. Make sure this doesn’t happen again so that my time isn’t disturbed, or you will lose a lot more than just points”.

Clenching her teeth, Aster nodded but kept silent. “I want an answer, Miss Evans. Do you understand, or not?” – “I understand, Professor” she finally said.

“Good. Back to work everybody. Mr. Flint, quit snickering, your last essay was terrible, and I want a new one. Same goes for you, Mr. Zabini.” And with that, Snape finally left the common room to the two boys groaning.

“What the bloody hell was that?”, Theodore finally asked Aster, who was blushing so hard of embarrassment her whole face turned red.

She took a couple of calming breaths, before she answered, “Nothing worth mentioning. Just some Gryffindor’s who think they’re being very clever. But don’t worry. They want war? Then they’ll get war – but once they know who they’re dealing with, they’ll want to turn back time to prevent all this,” and with that, Aster looked up to her friends smiling wickedly with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, and with her hair being so dishevelled and her uniform being rumpled, she looked absolutely terrifying.

~

The air was surprisingly cold for that clear September day when Aster walked out onto the Quidditch field for the tryouts. Draco and Aster were the only second years to try out, but their friends decided they would endure the cool weather and watch them play, for which Aster was immensely grateful, as she soon saw that she was the only girl to even try out, and also the smallest person. While she had been a little bit taller than Draco for the past years, it seemed he had a gone through a grow spurt over the summer as he was now almost a head taller than her – which he liked to point out way too much for her liking.

“All right, listen up! Last year the Ravenclaw team won because our team was absolute shit. Thus, I have decided to keep only Adrian and Miles. Terrence is out and I want to know if there are better Beaters than Cam and Holden. If they are the best again, I’ll keep them. Which means, there is one spot for Chaser, potentially two Beaters and one Seeker. The try outs are as followed: You’re doing some drills so that I can determine if you can even fly, after that those who want to be Chasers will try to put the Quaffle into the rings while Miles will try to stop them; same goes for the Beaters. You will try to knock the Chasers off their broom. Seekers, I will let a Snitch loose, after that it’s up to you. Don’t disappoint me. Now, before we go even onto the broom, I want three laps from _everyone_ – yes, that means you too, Miles. Let’s go!”

Aster was by no means unfit– but the Quidditch stadium was huge, and after the second lap she struggled to breathe, but thankfully, she wasn’t the only one. Miles and Adrian, who were running with her, were also struggling, and complaining all the way, but Aster refrained from commenting, for one because she was saving her breath, and for another because she feared Marcus could hear her.

After those laps were done, they were allowed to take a short break before they went up into the air. And it was a disaster. Somehow, a couple of first years smuggled themselves into the try out and considering they have probably only had one flying lesson, they were not very coordinated. Even up in the air, Aster could see the vein on Marcus’s neck pulsating as he screamed to those first years to “get off the damned field”.

Draco snickered next to Aster and only stopped after she smashed her elbow into his side, shooting him a warning look as Aster had caught onto Marcus’s stare to them, daring them to do anything stupid.

“Alright. Chasers and Keepers up! Try not to kill each other – or not, I don’t really care”. Aster snorted after only she could hear the last part, as she flew right by Marcus as he mumbled it which earned her an exasperated glare by the Captain.

There weren’t many people trying out as Chaser but all of them were older than Aster. But she knew that she had a certain advantage, as she was smaller than the older boys, and thus faster than them.

Aster was the third in the row of five, but after seeing the first two, she wasn’t all that concerned. They had five shots, and she managed to put in four of them, although the last one almost went through. She saw Marcus scribbling down something onto his clipboard and Miles sending her a thumbs up from the goals. To her dismay, an older student she didn’t know his name of, scored all five goals.

All except for Aster and the older student were dismissed after the first round; the second round being each of them playing with Marcus and Adrian to test how they could work together, which was in Aster’s favour, as she grew up playing Quidditch with the both of them, so they were pretty coordinated.

The older student, whose name she had learned was Blake Ainsworth, a half-blood just like her, went first and while he wasn’t bad with Marcus and Adrian, she knew they worked better together, which proved to be true as she went up. After her round, Marcus didn’t say anything to either of them while they landed, but Adrian’s grin said everything.

Sweating profusely, Aster changed in the girl’s changing room and climbing the stairs to the Slytherin seats to watch the rest of the try-out.

Next up were the beaters and it was pretty clear that the Rosier twins were going return as Beaters. They were quiet fourth years, mostly kept to themselves, but Aster heard that they could be absolutely ruthless if they had to be. They were also pretty good looking, at least that what the other girls in her dorm thought. Cameron was the older one of the two, and also the taller one. He was more reserved than his brother Holden, who occasionally liked to flirt with anyone, boy or girl, if he wanted something. And somehow, his charm always got him his way, but except for flirting, Aster never heard of anything remotely romantic going on in the twin’s lives.

The try-out that everyone was looking forward to the most was the one of the Seeker. The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor was well known for centuries, but ever since Harry became the Gryffindor Seeker the previous year, Marcus was determined to get someone better than him. And it seemed that Draco was that person.

In Aster’s opinion, he wasn’t bad. She had seen him fly throughout their childhood days, but she wasn’t sure if he could compete with her brother. Though truth be told, she wasn’t exactly sure if _anyone_ could compete with her brother. Sometimes she wondered how he could have such good eyesight while playing Quidditch with the wind and everything, but still needing glasses. That was a mystery Aster had yet to solve. Also, how did he manage that his glasses didn’t fall off while playing? She would have to ask him that some time, she took a mental note.

After Marcus announced the results of the try-out, the new positions were as such:

The new Seeker would be Draco Malfoy, with a generous donation of seven new Nimbus 2001, curtesy of Lucius Malfoy.

The returning Beaters were Cameron and Holden Rosier.

The Chasers were Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey with the newest addition of Aster Evans.

And last but not least, Miles Bletchley would return as Keeper.

~

The Slytherin common room wasn’t quiet this evening – with the news of the new players for their Quidditch team spreading fast, the older students threw and impromptu party for the new players and the older one’s staying, so it was uncharacteristically loud in the dungeons.

After being congratulated by her friends, Aster got herself a Butterbeer when she noticed the two new Beaters sitting alone in a corner of the common room, quietly observing the scene, but it was the mischievous gleam in Holden’s eyes, and his slight smirk, that brought up an idea to Aster, so she walked over to them.

“Hello, boys,” she said with a smooth voice, sitting herself onto the arm of Holden’s chair, looking down on them. “We haven’t really talked yet, but I’m Aster Evans, the new Chaser”

“Yes, we know who you are, Potter”, Cameron said with a bored voice, looking at his glass. Aster scowled at the name but chose to ignore it in favour of what she was going to ask them.

“Well, I didn’t come her to chitchat, so let me get straight to the point. I wanted to ask you a favour”

“What would we get for said favour, love?” Holden said, draping his left arm around her waist, but retreating when she smacked his shoulder. He smirked up to her with a boyish look on his face.

“What do you want?” – “We heard you’re good with Potions, is that right?” Aster nodded her head slightly, “Eh, I’m alright. Why, what do you need?” – “We would be in need of a little bit of Love Potion”

Aster threw her head back and laughed out loud. “Why would _you_ need a Love Potion? Aren’t you like, the school’s playboy or something?” – “Don’t worry about _what_ I need it for, love. What do you say?”

Aster looked to Cameron who slightly nodded his head in agreement with his brother. She finally held out her hand to Holden and inclined her head, smirking slightly, “Deal” and as they shook hands, the smirk on both Aster’s and Holden’s faces grew simultaneously.

“So, what favour do you need us for?”, Cameron finally asked.

On the other side of the room, Theodore, Blaise and Daphne looked at their friend signing off some deal with the Devil Twins as they were secretly called.

“I don’t like this at all,” Theodore said, shaking his head in worry. “Me neither,” answered Daphne, while Blaise only gave an affirmative noise.

Not far from them, another boy looked at the unusual scene. Draco Malfoy’s teeth were clenched, and his hands gripped his Butterbeer so tightly, they were paler than usual.

~

Aster was awoken one Saturday morning to an excited Miles Bletchley, shaking her shoulders until she was sure they were dislocated. “What the hell are you doing, Miles?” she asked groggily, trying to keep her eyes open.

“Flint got Snape to sign a special form so we could use the Quidditch field today!” he exclaimed excitedly. “So? Why are you so happy and why did you have to wake me up at this godforsaken hour?” Aster grumbled.

“ _Because_ , the Gryffindor’s actually booked the field for this time lot, but we’re going to kick them out. Ah, I can’t _wait_ to see their faces. Oh, and I woke you up because we should be downstairs in 20 minutes”

Aster was immediately awake, slipping out of bed and rolling her eyes when Miles turned away quickly, screeching like a little girl as he saw her in her nightgown.

“Oh, get your act together, Bletchley. It’s not like you’ve never seen a girl in a nightgown before” – “Yes, but you’re like my sister!” he exclaimed, finally running out of her room when one of the other girls’ pillow met his face. “Stupid boys” she heard Tracey mumbling to herself before falling back asleep, making Aster chuckle to herself, before remembering she had to get ready for Quidditch practice.

~

“Flint!” Aster heard an outraged Oliver Wood bellow. A round of snickers went around the Slytherin Quidditch team. “This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!”

“Ah, but I’ve got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. _I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch pitch, owing to the need to train their new Seeker and Chaser_.”

“You’ve got a new Seeker _and_ Chaser?” asked Wood, who was smaller than Flint, so he had to look up. “Where?”

And just for pure dramatics, Aster and Draco were shielded by the older players, to reveal them at exactly this point.

It brought extreme satisfaction to Aster seeing her brother’s shocked face. But not only he was shocked, Fred and George were too. “Aster?” all three of them asked at the same time, which brought out a low chuckle from the whole team. “What, you think my brother is the only one good at Quidditch? But don’t worry, I’m the new Chaser, not Seeker, so the spotlight will still be on you, brother dearest” Aster drawled with a smirk on her face. She had way too much fun messing with her brother and her friends.

Flint, being the insufferable Slytherin that he was, also began boasting about Lucius Malfoy buying all of them a new Nimbus 2001, when two all too familiar faces came to the scene.

“What’s happening? Why aren’t you playing? And why are _he_ and _your sister_ here?” Ron asked Harry. “I’m the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley,” Draco replied in a smug voice, and Aster added to it with an equal smugness in her voice, “And _I_ am the new Slytherin Chaser”.

Noticing the baffled look on Ron’s face as he saw the brooms, Malfoy said smoothly, “Good, aren’t they? But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them.”

The whole Slytherin team began laughing, and even though the joke wasn’t all that good, Aster still began chuckling, just to back up Draco. “At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent.” Hermione hissed and Aster’s mouth formed an O-shape, trying to contain her laughter but something resembling a choke still came out of her throat which earned her a glare from Draco.

“No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood,” he spat. Aster breathed in sharply at those words as the Gryffindor team attacked Draco; Ron had even drawn his wand, pointing it at Draco’s face.

A loud bang echoed around the pitch and a light shot out of Ron’s wand, just not from the right direction, and instead of hitting Draco as intended, the hex went straight into Ron himself, who doubled over, falling back into the grass. There was a stunned silence around the pitch from both teams as Hermione bent over Ron to check on him, when suddenly there was a retching sound as several slugs dribbled out of Ron’s mouth into his lap.

This time the Slytherin team, including Aster, was howling with laughter. Aster was leaning against Miles, clutching her stomach, equally amused, terrified, and disgusted by the events.

The situation only got better as Harry and Hermione brought Ron away from the stadium and the Gryffindor team walked back to the castle as well, as they couldn’t really train without their Seeker.

Still chuckling, Flint faced his team. “Alright everyone, let’s warm up and begin to train. We’ve wasted too much time already and I want to be done by lunchtime.”


End file.
